


gets kinda cold but i wanna hold ya (please tell me that's alright)

by nnegan13



Category: SKAM (Italy)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Eva and edo are cousins I don't make the rules, F/M, probably wildly American bc I'm lazy and don't feel like fact checking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-10-29 18:07:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20800727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nnegan13/pseuds/nnegan13
Summary: “Can you drop me off at campus in a little bit?” Ele asks, looking over at him from the other side of the table. The day is unusually warm for November and they’re sat outside, jackets tucked around themselves. Ele took his jacket again as they left his apartment and the combination of her wearing it along with his shirt is doing serious things to his brain. “I took a TA shift in the lab for a friend of mine.”“Sure.” He squints a little as the sun breaks in a vibrant halo around her head. “When?”“Ah, we should probably leave in twenty?” She takes a sip of her coffee and leans forward, grabbing the paper bag with his cornetto inside and pulling it across the table. “The lab’s at twelve and I don’t really know how long it’ll take to get there from here.”“Mm, okay.”—compilation of the college!au posted from 6 june 2019-28 sept 2019





	1. (for some reason i can't explain) once you go there was never an honest word

**Author's Note:**

> decided to compile all of the college!au into one place in case I never get around to actually writing the whole fic 
> 
> chapters have been organized in chronological order (1-5) and ch 6 is a dateless drabble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Edoardo Incanti_ to _Eva Brighi_: do u know when st*phan leaves  
_Eva Brighi_: did u really just censor Stephan  
_Edoardo Incanti_: no  
—  
_Eva Brighi_ to _Eleonora Sava_: what time is st*phan coming to pick u up  
_Eleonora Sava_: did u just censor Stephan  
_Eva Brighi_: answer the question ele  
—  
_Eleonora Sava_ to _Eva Brighi_: your cousin is a little shit  
_Eva Brighi_: and yet you still would rather hang w him tonite than with st*phan  
_Eleonora Sava_: you’re both fucking annoying __  
—  
_Eva Brighi_: I gotta remind her that she’s actually friends with st*phan, that she actually likes him  
_Federica Caciotti_: did u just censor stephan  
—  
_Eva Brighi_ sent a picture to _Eleonora Sava___  
_Eva Brighi_: don’t be impressed or anything  
_Eva Brighi_: but edo taught me how to make tiramisu tonight  
_Eva Brighi_: nd it’s fucking delicious  
_Eva Brighi_: ditch st*phan and come have some  
_Eva Brighi_: *bring Stephan over and have some  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there are some links, make sure to click on them 
> 
> I know hanna's bf in dr/ck is named Stephan, but this Stephan is not him, one of the guys ele knew in Manchester was named Stephan I'm just stealing that from ratvision
> 
> chapter title from "viva la vida" by coldplay
> 
> this chapter is for muskan for her bday bc I love her HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUSKAN YOU'RE AMAZING AND WONDERFUL AND THE BEST EVER EVER EVER ILY 
> 
> check out her [ao3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tidemaker/pseuds/tidemaker)) and her [skam tumblr](https://edonori.tumblr.com)) 
> 
> shout out to paige (@[sleepybanshee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepyBanshee/pseuds/SleepyBanshee) and @[air-bison-yip-yip](https://air-bison-yip-yip.tumblr.com)) and christeen (@[ritareigns](https://ritareigns.tumblr.com)) for beta-ing this chapter for me! y'all are the best ily <3

**WEDNESDAY **  
**30 OCTOBER**  
**09:19**

  
_Chicco Rodi_ to _deadass I *will* slash ur tires Elia_: so   
_Chicco Rodi_: tomorrow   
_Silvia Mirabella_: ya   
_Chicco Rodi_: drinks   
_Chicco Rodi_: they must be bought   
_Sana Allagui_: oh I didn’t kno they worked that way   
_Sana Allagui_: when did the policy get changed??   
_Sana Allagui_: is that in the terms of service I didn’t read?   
_Chicco Rodi_: sana ur not helping   
_Sana Allagui_: sounds like a u problem   
_Giovanni Garau_: chicco can you not get drinks for tomorrow?   
_Chicco Rodi_: no I can I just   
_Federico Canegallo_: he’s too lazy to go get them himself   
_Chicco Rodi_ changed the group name to _deadass I *will* slash ur tires Fede_   
_Federica Caciotti_: chicco   
_Chicco Rodi _changed the group name to _deadass I *will* slash ur tires Federico_

— 

_Eva Brighi_ change the group name to _give it up for day 33_

— 

_Eva Brighi_ to _Eleonora Sava_: hey dinner at edo’s tonight   
_Eva Brighi_: if u wanna come   
_Eva Brighi_: don’t say anything about Stephan you’ll ruin it   
_Eleonora Sava_: how tf am I supposed to say “no, I can’t” then   
_Eva Brighi_: just say no w no excuse   
_Eva Brighi_: and I’ll forgive u ur trespasses   
_Eleonora Sava_: are they trespasses if ur the reason they’re trespasses?   
_Eleonora Sava_: hm? check and mate 

— 

_Eleonora Sava_ to _Edoardo Incanti_: hey   
_Edoardo Incanti_: hey   
_Edoardo Incanti_: u know it’s typical for someone to continue the convo after the other person has responded   
_Edoardo Incanti_: no? 

— 

_Chicco Rodi_ to _deadass I *will* slash ur tires Federico_: so everyone’s agreed we’re doing matching where’s waldo costumes???   
_Luchino_: I thought we were doing spiderman?   
_Luchino_: like the cool animated one?   
_Elia Santini_: Luchino’s idea is better chicco urs is shit   
_Chicco Rodi_: hey   
_Sana Allagui_: since when are we matching???   
_Silvia Mirabella_: ^^^   
_Eva Brighi_: since the last time we started planning the halloween party   
_Eva Brighi_: keep up???   
_Federica Caciotti_: why tf are we wearing matching costumes to the halloween party that *we’re* planning   
_Chicco Rodi_: for the last time   
_Chicco Rodi_: it’s a halloween pre-game   
_Chicco Rodi_: and we’re matching so that when we go to the other halloween parties we’ll look cool   
_Sana Allagui_: since when are matching costumes cool, chicco   
_Eleonora Sava_: since when are there gonna be other halloween parties, chicco 

— 

_Eleonora Sava_ to _Edoardo Incanti_: would u believe me if I said my phone died and I was chargerless until like five min ago   
_Edoardo Incanti_: no, it’s almost 10 and ur a liar   
_Edoardo Incanti_: but I forgive u anyways   
_Edoardo Incanti_: what’s up   
_Eleonora Sava_: when do u wanna meet for that German project?   
_Edoardo Incanti_: uh   
_Edoardo Incanti_: having dinner with eva and whoever at mine tonight   
_Edoardo Incanti_: if you’re coming we could talk then? 

— 

_Edoardo Incanti_ to _Federico Canegallo_: what does it mean when u ask someone over for dinner and then they don’t respond  
_Federico Canegallo_: ele left u on read?   
_Edoardo Incanti_: how tf did u kno I was talking about ele I didn’t even mention her   
_Edoardo Incanti_: and no I didn’t get left on read   
_Edoardo Incanti_: she just hasn’t responded yet and its been like five minutes   
_Federico Canegallo_: lmaoo   
_Federico Canegallo_: that’s basically like being left on read u kno   
_Edoardo Incanti_: fuck you

— 

**10:00**

—

_Eva Brighi_ to _Le(t’s go to the) Mall_: who is at home   
_Eva Brighi_: fuck wrong gc 

— 

_Eva Brighi_ to _marti Blease tell nico to stop eating my pretzels_: who is at home   
_Martino Rametta_: me n nico are at the lib   
_Eleonora Sava_: in class   
_Eva Brighi_: fuck 

—

_Eva Brighi_ to _Edoardo Incanti_: before u bug me to hell and back   
_Eva Brighi_: she can’t come tonight   
_Edoardo Incanti_: what tf do u mean she can’t come 

— 

_Edoardo Incanti_ to _Eleonora Sava_: u can’t come tonight????   
_Eleonora Sava_: from the deepest depths of my heart   
_Eleonora Sava_: ya   
_Edoardo Incanti_: oh fuck I’m gonna have to teach Eva how to cook alone aren’t I   
_Eleonora Sava_: well is anyone else gonna be there?   
_Edoardo Incanti_: chicco, probably   
_Eleonora Sava_: ur p much fucked then   
_Eleonora Sava_: now   
_Eleonora Sava_: how would u like ur funeral services arranged in the case of an untimely fire this evening 

— 

_Eleonora Sava_ to _Eva Brighi_: what did u forget  
_Eva Brighi_: wat do u mean   
_Eleonora Sava_: did I just imagine those frantic texts from u   
_Eva Brighi_: yes

— 

_Chicco Rodi_ to _deadass I *will* slash ur tires Federico_: anyone kno where one might obtain fake cobwebs   
_Chicco Rodi_: I’m asking for a friend   
_Chicco Rodi_: also fake blood   
_Chicco Rodi_: also for a friend 

— 

_Eleonora Sava_ to _TED460 aka kms101_: when can everyone meet for the project this weekend?   
_Jacopo Rocci_: aren’t u with that English dude thru sat   
_Jacopo Rocci_: n that’s why you couldn’t come on Monday   
_Eleonora Sava_: trust me, a boy is not more important than me passing my classes   
_Dora Calvetti_: but u skipped study group for him????   
_Eleonora Sava_: unrelated   
_Eleonora Sava_: unimportant   
_Dora Calvetti_: its ok we still respect u as a person if u have a crush   
_Eleonora Sava_: blocked 

— 

_Eva Brighi_ to _deadass I *will* slash ur tires Federico_: anyone feeling like being the best person on the planet   
_Elia Santini_: i already am   
_Elia Santini_: but continue   
_Eva Brighi_: let me rephrase   
_Eva Brighi_: anyone with a car feel like being the best person on the planet   
_Federico Canegallo_: what’s up   
_Chicco Rodi_: I’ll do w/e u want in exchange for help with the party already   
_Eva Brighi_: u literally in a business grad program  
_Eva Brighi_: nd u fuckin forgot how business works   
_Eva Brighi_: u can’t offer to exchange for something I’m already giving u   
_Chicco Rodi_: that *is* how business works????   
_Eva Brighi_: don’t be ridiculous chicco   
_Chicco Rodi_: i’m????  
_Eva Brighi_: fede are u busy rn   
_Federico Canegallo_: ya I’m in a meeting thing   
_Elia Santini_: “meeting thing” ok   
_Federico Canegallo_: the fuck is that supposed to mean   
_Federico Canegallo_: it’s a legit meeting this time I’m serious 

— 

_Eva Brighi_ to _Giovanni Garau_: ur friends are useless   
_Giovanni Garau_: i know   
_Giovanni Garau_: and yet   
_Giovanni Garau_: ur friends with them too 

— 

_Eleonora Sava_ to _Eva Brighi_: do u need help   
_Eva Brighi_: not in the slightest   
_Eleonora Sava_: don’t lie   
_Eva Brighi_: who said I was lying

— 

_Edoardo Incanti_ to _Eva Brighi_: do u know when st*phan leaves   
_Eva Brighi_: did u really just censor Stephan   
_Edoardo Incanti_: no 

— 

_Eleonora Sava_ to _Eva Brighi_: everyone I kno is overinvested in my life   
_Eva Brighi_: u’d miss us if we weren’t   
_Eleonora Sava_: not what I’m talking about   
_Eleonora Sava_: my study group friends   
_Eleonora Sava_: they’re crossing some lines I’d like firmly uncrossed   
_Eva Brighi_: am I allowed to cross lines   
_Eleonora Sava_: tbd   
_Eleonora Sava_: if u stop being nosy   
_Eva Brighi_: rude

— 

**11:00**

—

_Edoardo Incanti_ to _Eleonora Sava_: what are u doing rn   
_Eleonora Sava_: studying   
_Eleonora Sava_: or fucking trying to   
_Edoardo Incanti_: and how’s that going   
_Eleonora Sava_: shitty   
_Edoardo Incanti_: i figured   
_Edoardo Incanti_: have time for a break?   
_Eleonora Sava_: how long will this break be   
_Eleonora Sava_: bc I’ve got lab at 13   
_Eleonora Sava_: and u always get me into things that take forever   
_Edoardo Incanti_: ouch   
_Edoardo Incanti_: p sure this won’t take two hours  
_Edoardo Incanti_: Eva needs me to pick up her portfolio she left it at home this morning   
_Eleonora Sava_: and ur texting me instead of going bc?   
_Edoardo Incanti_: i want u to come with me?????   
_Eleonora Sava_: oh   
_Edoardo Incanti_: ya   
_Eleonora Sava_: how close are u to UoM? 

—

_Eleonora Sava_ to _Eva Brighi_: ok u asked edo over me?   
_Eleonora Sava_: low blow   
_Eva Brighi_: he has a car nd u don’t   
_Eleonora Sava_: just stab me next time it’ll hurt less 

—

_Eva Brighi_ to _give it up for day 33_: just so everyone knows I am Appropriately Panicking about the fact that I left my portfolio at home   
_Eva Brighi_: but edo asked her to come with him to go get it so like   
_Eva Brighi_: pros and cons 

— 

_Silvia Mirabella_ to _Le(t’s go to the) Mall_: ok no 1  
_Silvia Mirabella_: fuck both chicco’s idea and Luca’s idea about costumes tomorrow   
_Silvia Mirabella_: what are we going as   
_Federica Caciotti_: vampires   
_Federica Caciotti_: specifically from the hit movie series Twilight (2008-2012)   
_Eva Brighi_: sticking it to the man   
_Eva Brighi_: I like it   
_Silvia Mirabella_: i appreciate ur approval but that’s not a halloween costume   
_Eva Brighi_: the Winx club   
_Eleonora Sava_: oooh I love the Winx club!   
_Federica Caciotti_: sana is diligently studying but she got annoyed by my phone blowing up and says we should go as the Spice Girls   
_Federica Caciotti_: or the beach boys   
_Eva Brighi_: power rangers   
_Eva Brighi_: TEEN TITANS   
_Eva Brighi_: SAILOR MOON   
_Silvia Mirabella_: eva if u say one more animated children’s cartoon   
_Eva Brighi_: A V A T A R  
_Eva Brighi_: THE GAANG 

— 

_Edoardo Incanti_ to _Eva Brighi_: ur apartment is a mess   
_Eva Brighi_: it’s marti   
_Edoardo Incanti_: don’t lie   
_Eva Brighi_: fuck you 

— 

_Chicco Rodi_ to _rocco how come u never hang w us anymore_: how opposed is everyone to a fog machine   
_Chicco Rodi_: i found one to rent   
_Chicco Rodi_: but I won’t get it if u guys say no   
_Edoardo Incanti_: i thought this was just a pre-game   
_Federico Canegallo_: ^^^   
_Chicco Rodi_: lets just say   
_Chicco Rodi_: ele might be right about this party being the only halloween party in the general vicinity tomorrow 

— 

_Eleonora Sava_ to _Eva Brighi_: edo wants to kno what time ur coming over tonight   
_Eva Brighi_: he couldn’t just text me himself?   
_Eleonora Sava_: he’s driving   
_Eleonora Sava_: and I haven’t snooped long enough to figure out his password   
_Eleonora Sava_: and he finds great joy from the fact that I don’t know it  
_Eleonora Sava_: and since he’s driving he won’t unlock it   
_Eva Brighi_: ok   
_Eva Brighi_: like 19?? 

— 

**12:00**

—

_Eva Brighi_ to _give it up for day 33_: they’re still together???   
_Eva Brighi_: it’s been like an hour???   
_Sana Allagui_: fake news   
_Chicco Rodi_: don’t get my hopes up   
_Eva Brighi_: for real they are  
_Eva Brighi_: I only thought it would take like 30 min MAX but   
_Eva Brighi_: they’re only just getting back??   
_Eva Brighi_: THEY FUCKING TOOK THAT LONG WITH MY PORTFOLIO   
_Eva Brighi_: I’m going to MURDER them   
_Martino Rametta_: ok maybe don’t do that   
_Martino Rametta_: if u go to jail for a double homicide and one of ur victims is another of my roommates that means I’m down two roommates??   
_Martino Rametta_: and i have to look for more???   
_Martino Rametta_: too much work   
_Eva Brighi_: glad to kno ur concerned for my moral wellbeing marti 

— 

_Eleonora Sava_ to _Eva Brighi_: hullo we Have Arrived   
_Eleonora Sava_: where you at?   
_Eleonora Sava_: I can probs bring it to you if u respond quick   
_Eva Brighi_: I fucking can’t remember what this building is called   
_Eva Brighi_ sent a location 

— 

_Eleonora Sava_ to _Le(t’s go to the) Mall_: lets do avatar   
_Eleonora Sava_: the gaang as the spice girls   
_Federica Caciotti_: genius 

— 

_Edoardo Incanti_ to _Federico Canegallo_: she can’t fucking come tonight  
_Federico Canegallo_: I thought u knew this already??   
_Edoardo Incanti_: i mean I did   
_Edoardo Incanti_: i’m just still mad about it   
_Federico Canegallo_: ok   
_Federico Canegallo_: if that’s it   
_Federico Canegallo_: want to pick up some food for me while ur out   
_Edoardo Incanti_: why the fuck would I do that?   
_Federico Canegallo_: bc you’re a dad   
_Federico Canegallo_: its ur responsibility   
_Edoardo Incanti_: hold up   
_Edoardo Incanti_: when did I have a child 

— 

_Edoardo Incanti_ to _Eva Brighi_: do u know what they’re doing tonight   
_Eva Brighi_: no   
_Edoardo Incanti_: can u find out for me   
_Eva Brighi_: here’s a novel concept   
_Eva Brighi_: you can just ask her yourself   
_Edoardo Incanti_: i can’t fucking do that   
_Eva Brighi_: why the fuck not   
_Edoardo Incanti_: bc I just can’t   
_Eva Brighi_: sucks   
_Eva Brighi_: don’t text me I’m about to present 

— 

_Eva Brighi_ to _Giovanni Garau_: I’m about to present any words of wisdom   
_Giovanni Garau_: even if u fail ur still sexy   
_Eva Brighi_: thank 

— 

**13:00**

—

_Chicco Rodi _to _rocco how come u never hang w us anymore_: so no to the fog machine?   
_Chicco Rodi_: speak now or forever hold ur piece   
_Rocco Martucci_: *peace   
_Chicco Rodi_: fuck you rocco   
_Rocco Martucci_: you get a fog machine and I’m disowning you   
_Chicco Rodi_: dammit all   
_Chicco Rodi_: my overwhelming need for a kickass halloween party and my love for my best friend Rocco Martucci, fight   
_Rocco Martucci_: don’t associate urself w me chicco   
_Edoardo Incanti_: no to the fog machine   
_Chicco Rodi_: betrayed by my own father   
_Edoardo Incanti_: ?????   
_Edoardo Incanti_: you’re older than me????   
_Federico Canegallo_: yes to the fog machine   
_Edoardo Incanti_: @fede but you hate fog machines???   
_Chicco Rodi_: don’t ruin this for me edo   
_Federico Canegallo_: keeps things interesting 

— 

_Chicco Rodi_ to _deadass I *will* slash ur tires Federico_: ok we were voting on getting a fog machine for tomorrow   
_Silvia Mirabella_: absolutely not   
_Federica Caciotti_: hell yeah   
_Sana Allagui_: this is the best idea you’ve had since you started planning this thing   
_Luchino_: you can get a fog machine on such short notice???   
_Chicco Rodi_: ok I’m not asking for ur votes????  
_Sana Allagui_: then why did u text us??? rude 

— 

**14:00**

—

_Edoardo Incanti_ to _Eleonora Sava_: you’re sure you can’t come tonight   
_Eleonora Sava_: ok ur getting annoying   
_Eleonora Sava_: yes   
_Edoardo Incanti_: sorry   
_Edoardo Incanti_: it just makes me v sad   
_Eleonora Sava_: he leaves on Saturday so quit being a little bitch about it 

— 

_Eleonora Sava_ to _Eva Brighi_: I’m going to scream   
_Eleonora Sava_: your cousin is so annoying   
_Eva Brighi_: ok so when ur annoyed w him he’s *my* cousin now?   
_Eleonora Sava_: well he’s not my cousin   
_Eva Brighi_: nd i thought I asked you not to text me while I’m presenting??   
_Eleonora Sava_: you didn’t?   
_Eleonora Sava_: why are you texting back while you’re presenting?   
_Eva Brighi_: well I’m done presenting now   
_Eleonora Sava_: ok I amend my previous statement   
_Eleonora Sava_: you’re both annoying   
_Eva Brighi_: well fuck off to you too ele 

— 

_Eva Brighi_ sent an [image](https://drive.google.com/file/d/12ZnmSS-gfLZBEbqm1YEVcDIE_4C4STF0/view?usp=sharing) to _give it up for day 33_  
_Sana Allagui_: who let you have access to the internet   
_Chicco Rodi_: ok are ele and edo fighting???   
_Eva Brighi_: ele just called him annoying   
_Eva Brighi_: but more importantly she called ME annoying   
_Martino Rametta_: what even is the point anymore  
_Eva Brighi_: u can leave if ur not having fun Marti   
_Martino Rametta_ has left the group   
_Eva Brighi_: ah fuck now I have to apologize 

—

_Sana Allagui_ to _Le(t’s go to the) Mall_: flaw in the plan   
_Sana Allagui_: the party is tomorrow   
_Sana Allagui_: where are we going to get good enough costumes to go as the gaang dressed up as the spice girls   
_Eva Brighi_: dammit all   
_Eva Brighi_: does this mean we’re gonna have to go w the where’s Waldo plan   
_Silvia Mirabella_: legit I’d rather die   
_Silvia Mirabella_: i’m being completely serious rn   
_Federica Caciotti_: uhhhhhhh   
_Federica Caciotti_: totally lame but we could go as football players instead   
_Federica Caciotti_: get old jerseys and whatnot   
_Silvia Mirabella_: uhhh   
_Eva Brighi_: dibs on mario balotelli   
_Sana Allagui_: u can’t just dibs mario balotelli   
_Eva Brighi_: sure I can   
_Eleonora Sava_: dibs on paolo maldini   
_Eva Brighi_: aren’t u supposed to be TAing rn   
_Eva Brighi_: hearts and lungs and shit   
_Eva Brighi_: how do u have hands available to dibs   
_Sana Allagui_: ele ur taste in footballers is OLD   
_Federica Caciotti_: ok well I call gigi buffon   
_Silvia Mirabella_: ok if I can’t be buffon we are NOT doing footballers   
_Sana Allagui_: silvia   
_Sana Allagui_: pls don’t do this too us   
_Sana Allagui_: we don’t have enough time for this 

— 

_Edoardo Incanti_ to _Federico Canegallo_: why am I an ass all of the time   
_Federico Canegallo_: I was gonna say its in ur DNA but I like ur mom too much to do that to her   
_Edoardo Incanti_: dick 

— 

_Chicco Rodi_ to _deadass I *will* slash ur tires Federico_: ok fog machine is on   
_Chicco Rodi_: any objections?   
_Silvia Mirabella_: i thought we didn’t get votes?   
_Elia Santini_: sounds sick   
_Elia Santini_: also chicco I can help get drinks   
_Elia Santini_: my shit fell through   
_Giovanni Garau_: by shit fell through do you mean ur skipping class   
_Elia Santini_: exactly   
_Chicco Rodi_: @elia ur great   
_Chicco Rodi_: @silvia ur right, this is a benevolent dictatorship   
_Chicco Rodi_: i want u to feel as if ur heard   
_Chicco Rodi_: w/o actually hearing u   
_Sana Allagui_: who put u in charge?   
_Chicco Rodi_: u all did??   
_Sana Allagui_: or were u the only one who wanted to do the halloween party   
_Sana Allagui_: and thus u created ur own position   
_Sana Allagui_ changed the group name to _viva la resistence_   
_Luchino_ changed the group name to _viva la vida (2008) by hit british rock band coldplay _  
_Federica Caciotti_ changed the group name to _stream viva la vida or death and all his friends on Spotify now _  
_Elia Santini_: why are u all referencing coldplay   
_Federica Caciotti_: bc it fucking slaps next question 

—

_Eva Brighi_ added _Martino Rametta_ to _give it up for day 33 _  
_Martino Rametta_: yes this was by force  
_Martino Rametta_: yes it’s fine   
_Elia Santini_: welcome back to hell marti  
_Eva Brighi_: you’re not helping the cause guys 

— 

**15:00**

—

_Edoardo Incanti_ to _Eva Brighi_: am I annoying?   
_Eva Brighi_: all the time   
_Edoardo Incanti_: thanks I guess   
_Eva Brighi_: I can sense ur despair literally through the screen   
_Eva Brighi_: do u know how impressive that is   
_Eva Brighi_: what’s up   
_Edoardo Incanti_: bugged ele too much about her not coming tonight   
_Edoardo Incanti_: she called me a little bitch   
_Eva Brighi_: she’s not wrong   
_Edoardo Incanti_: should I apologize   
_Eva Brighi_: if u see her in person   
_Eva Brighi_: but don’t text her it’ll feel trite   
_Edoardo Incanti_: god why is everything so hard 

— 

_Federico Canegallo_ to _Edoardo Incanti_: ele’s right u are a little bitch   
_Edoardo Incanti_: if u insist I’m ur dad I’m disowning u   
_Federico Canegallo_: nah ur just chicco’s dad   
_Edoardo Incanti_: i’m still so confused   
_Edoardo Incanti_: when was this decided

— 

_Dora Calvetti _to _TED460 aka kms101_: I can meet from 13-15 on Friday   
_Jacopo Rocci_: works for me   
_Jacopo Rocci_: just meet at the lang building?   
_Edoardo Incanti_: sounds good   
_Jacopo Rocci_: hopefully Eleonora and her ~friend aren’t busy then   
_Dora Calvetti_: oh god I hope not 

—

_Edoardo Incanti_ to _Eva Brighi_: when jean-paul sartre said hell is other people he was right  
_Eva Brighi_: go mope to jean-paul instead of me pls ur ruining my vibes 

— 

_Eleonora Sava_ to _Stephan Atkinson_: I just finished with my TA shift, what time were you thinking for tonight?   
_Stephan Atkinson_: I can come round yours at 18:30?   
_Eleonora Sava_: awesome! I’ll see you then

— 

_Eleonora Sava_ to _Eva Brighi_: I think I kno the most annoying thing about u two   
_Eva Brighi_: care to share w the rest of the class   
_Eleonora Sava_: I’ve got plans tonight w Stephan   
_Eleonora Sava_: I’ve had plans w him basically since he got here   
_Eleonora Sava_: u both have continually annoyed me the whole time he’s been here   
_Eleonora Sava_: esp today   
_Eleonora Sava_: and yet I want to have dinner w you guys tonight instead of hanging w him   
_Eva Brighi_: glad you’ve seen the light 

—

_Eva Brighi_ to _give it up for day 33_: ok date isn’t cancelled but she’s admitted that she would rather be with us tonight so progress   
_Eva Brighi_: also edo’s being a whiny little bitch be we knew this already 

— 

_Eleonora Sava_ to _TED460 aka kms101_: I leave for a couple of hours and return to my name being slandered   
_Eleonora Sava_: how come u didn’t defend me @edo   
_Jacopo Rocci_: I can think of a few reasons…  
_Dora Calvetti_: is it slander if it’s true?   
_Edoardo Incanti_: was otherwise preoccupied   
_Edoardo Incanti_: deepest apologies   
_Eleonora Sava_: @dora perhaps I’ll just conveniently have something on Friday from 13-15 and we’ll have to meet for a second time!   
_Dora Calvetti_: is ur something with the English guy?   
_Dora Calvetti_: if u want to make me redact, this isn’t how to do it   
_Jacopo Rocci_: ele please don’t be busy I can’t do any other time this weekend   
_Eleonora Sava_: …fine   
_Eleonora Sava_: but enough about Stephan, okay? 

— 

**16:00**

— 

_Federica Caciotti _to _Le(t’s go to the) Mall_: ok whether anyone wants to match with me or not I’m going as sporty spice in spice world   
_Sana Allagui_: ok well I’m going as Silvia   
_Silvia Mirabella_: ????? Why   
_Sana Allagui_: for the lols   
_Eva Brighi_: I’m still going as mario balotelli   
_Eleonora Sava_: I’m going as katara   
_Eleonora Sava_: @silvia want to match with meeee?   
_Silvia Mirabella_: i dont think I have enough time to get a good costume to go as someone from atla   
_Silvia Mirabella_: but I have a buffon jersey…  
_Eleonora Sava_: the betrayal of it all 

— 

_Eva Brighi_ to _Eleonora Sava_: what time is st*phan coming to pick u up   
_Eleonora Sava_: did u just censor Stephan   
_Eva Brighi_: answer the question ele   
_Eleonora Sava_: 18:30   
_Eva Brighi_: fuck dinner doesn’t start until 19 I have to see u leave with him???   
_Eleonora Sava_: you don’t have to?   
_Eva Brighi_: tf you mean I don’t have to?   
_Eleonora Sava_: it’s not our first date and you’re not my mom?   
_Eleonora Sava_: if anything I’m *your* mom   
_Eva Brighi_: ur not wrong 

— 

_Edoardo Incanti_ to _Eleonora Sava_: sorry for not defending ur honor   
_Eleonora Sava_: my pride is so wounded   
_Edoardo Incanti_: ele   
_Eleonora Sava_: how am I to look jacopo and dora in the face ever again   
_Edoardo Incanti_: ele   
_Eleonora Sava_: the shame would just be Too Much   
_Edoardo Incanti_: eleonora   
_Eleonora Sava_: eleonora who? I am merely a woman who can no longer show her face amongst decent company   
_Edoardo Incanti_: cmon be serious now   
_Eleonora Sava_: I have never been more serious in my life 

—

_Stephan Atkinson_ to _Eleonora Sava_: how does the Duomo di Milano sound for tonight?  
_Eleonora Sava_: great! It’s been a while since I’ve seen it   
—   
_Edoardo Incanti_ to _stream viva la vide or death and all his friends on Spotify now_: ok dinner at mine at 19 tonight for whoever wants to come   
_Eva Brighi_: whatever happened to the sanctity of cousin dinner???   
_Eva Brighi_: catching up on the family drama   
_Eva Brighi_: what do these non-incantis have to offer that I don’t??   
_Edoardo Incanti_: they don’t complain when I text them   
_Eva Brighi_: that’s a fucking lie I know fede does   
_Federico Canegallo_: she speaks the truth   
_Eleonora Sava_: ok now ur just being cruel   
_Chicco Rodi_: ???? interesting turn of events   
_Sana Allagui_: English paradise isn’t so paradisiacal anymore?   
_Edoardo Incanti_: what is with the vocabulary on everyone   
_Eleonora Sava_: he wants to go to the Duomo I’m gonna cry   
_Chicco Rodi_: ok fat L   
_Elia Santini_: fat L doesn’t cover it   
_Elia Santini_: behemoth L   
_Elia Santini_: it’s bc we’re at school charms unlike some people   
_Edoardo Incanti_: i’m in a master’s program???   
_Giovanni Garau_: pour one out for miss sava  
_Eleonora Sava_: please don’t 

—

_Eleonora Sava_ to _Eva Brighi_: IT’S GOING TO BE SO BORING   
_Eleonora Sava_: OH HEY FRIEND I KNOW HAS LIVED IN MILAN FOR THE PAST TWO AND A HALF YEARS AND HAS LIVED IN ITALY FOR NINETEEN YEARS BEFORE THAT   
_Eleonora Sava_: DO YOU MIND IF WE GO LOOK AT A FUCKING CATHEDRAL DURING MY LIMITED STAY HERE INSTEAD OF DOING SOMETHING BOTH OF US WANT TO DO   
_Eleonora Sava_: NO? OK GREAT I AM GOING TO TAKE UR ANSWER WITH BLIND FAITH IN UR TRUTH TELLING HABITS AND NOT SAY ANOTHER WORD   
_Eleonora Sava_: listen I am going to scream   
_Eva Brighi_: ya I can see that   
_Eva Brighi_: when are you getting home 

—

_Edoardo Incanti_ to _Eva Brighi_: is it weird that I feel a sense of vindication   
_Eva Brighi_: do u know what vindication means   
_Eva Brighi_: I think the word ur looking for is satisfaction   
_Eva Brighi_: and 100% yes its weird   
_Edoardo Incanti_: shit

— 

_Sana Allagui_ to _Le(t’s go to the) Mall_: ele how are you feeling about tonight   
_Eleonora Sava_: fine   
_Silvia Mirabella_: dammit all   
_Federica Caciotti_: @sil you owe me five bucks   
_Eleonora Sava_: you bet on how I would respond to that question???   
_Silvia Mirabella_: no 

—

_Edoardo Incanti_ to _rocco how come u never hang w us anymore?_: chicco please tell me this package is not four matching where’s waldo shirts   
_Chicco Rodi_: i can neither confirm nor deny   
_Chicco Rodi_: did the fog machine come tho   
_Edoardo Incanti_: can neither confirm nor deny   
_Federico Canegallo_: it did   
_Edoardo Incanti_: fede   
_Chicco Rodi_ sent an [image](https://drive.google.com/file/d/11epTQkH9G9a3gIu40dSJ8v0nBpc_fJC7/view?usp=sharing)  
_Edoardo Incanti_: oh fuck off 

— 

**17:00**

—

_Edoardo Incanti_ to _Eleonora Sava_: what should I teach Eva to make tonight   
_Eleonora Sava_: I’m boycotting helping u atm   
_Eleonora Sava_: first u don’t defend my honor   
_Eleonora Sava_: then u invite everyone tonight   
_Eleonora Sava_: I’m not gonna help u pick what to make with Eva I’ll get too depressed   
_Edoardo Incanti_: u could ditch him early and come over afterward   
_Eleonora Sava_: the temptation of it all   
_Edoardo Incanti_: u know u want to   
_Eleonora Sava_: ugh   
_Eleonora Sava_: what should I wear tonight I’m Struggling 

—

_Edoardo Incanti_ sent an [image](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1weVT9CYvjABucfY-LsWfND4azVFcyb-O/view?usp=sharing) to _Eva Brighi_  
_Edoardo Incanti_: she’s not allowed to do this go bug her and not say why   
_Eva Brighi_: it’s what u deserve for being a little bitch all day 

— 

_Eva Brighi_ to _Giovanni Garau_: hey just want to let u know that I love having a healthy and stable relationship w u   
_Giovanni Garau_: ele and edo are being ridiculous again?   
_Eva Brighi_: can I not appreciate u at random   
_Giovanni Garau_: i mean you can   
_Giovanni Garau_: you just never do   
_Eva Brighi_: I take it back   
_Eva Brighi_: hello @the universe what’s the return policy on stupid boyfriends 

— 

_Edoardo Incanti_ to _Eleonora Sava_: uhhh to the duomo?   
_Edoardo Incanti_: something warm   
_Edoardo Incanti_: cuz it’s gonna be closed by the time u get there so u can’t go in   
_Eleonora Sava_: fuck are you for real   
_Eleonora Sava_: I’m gonna kill myself   
_Edoardo Incanti_: not the outfit of choice imo for dates, but whatever works for u   
_Eleonora Sava_: has anyone mentioned how unhelpful u are   
_Edoardo Incanti_: all the time 

— 

_Eleonora Sava_ to _Eva Brighi_: your cousin is a little shit   
_Eva Brighi_: and yet you still would rather hang w him tonite than with st*phan   
_Eleonora Sava_: you’re both fucking annoying 

— 

_Eleonora Sava_ to _Le(t’s go to the) Mall_: help   
_Eleonora Sava_: SOS   
_Eleonora Sava_: t-minus like an hour to show time Eva left and still isn’t home and I have no fucking idea what to wear   
_Sana Allagui_: ur going to the duomo?   
_Eleonora Sava_: ya that’s correct   
_Sana Allagui_: black strapless body con with like a lacy shawl thing  
_Eleonora Sava_: anyone else with serious and helpful thoughts   
_Eleonora Sava_: bueller? bueller?   
_Federica Caciotti_: can’t top sana’s it’s just Too Good   
_Silvia Mirabella_: ele i cannot for the life of me remember anything in ur closet   
_Eleonora Sava_: goddammit 

— 

**18:00**

— 

_Eleonora Sava_ to _Le(t’s go to the) Mall_: oh thank fuck Eva’s home   
_Silvia Mirabella_: send pics!   
_Eva Brighi_: she just groaned   
_Eva Brighi_: I don’t think she’s in the mood   
_Eva Brighi_: I gotta remind her that she’s actually friends with st*phan, that she actually likes him   
_Federica Caciotti_: did u just censor stephan   
_Sana Allagui_: mood 

— 

_Eva Brighi_ to _give it up for day 33_: ok she’s off   
_Eva Brighi_: going to see how edo is doing   
_Chicco Rodi_: my parents   
_Chicco Rodi_: so sad to see them not together during this difficult time in my life 

— 

_Eva Brighi_ sent an [image](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RP3LKdsRls2kKERiQGawTXYnwDAFaac6/view?usp=sharing) to _Le(t’s go to the) Mall_   
_Silvia Mirabella_: casual   
_Silvia Mirabella_: smart   
_Federica Caciotti_: galaxy brain outfit choice   
_Eva Brighi_: *elvis voice* thank you, thank you very much 

—

**19:00 **

— 

_Eva Brighi_ to _give it up for day 33_: update   
_Eva Brighi_: he’s sad   
_Eva Brighi_: nd he’d feel better if you all SHOWED THE FUCK UP FOR DINNER 

— 

_Eva Brighi_ to _stream viva la vida or death and all his friends on Spotify now_: ok invitation rescinded   
_Eva Brighi_: don’t come until later u ungrateful little shits 

— 

**21:00**

— 

_Eva Brighi_ sent an [image](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gZRDBH2QTUukrQIXwY7ZNMTctv8GAvED/view?usp=sharing) to _Eleonora Sava_  
_Eva Brighi_: don’t be impressed or anything   
_Eva Brighi_: but edo taught me how to make tiramisu tonight   
_Eva Brighi_: nd it’s fucking delicious   
_Eva Brighi_: ditch st*phan and come have some   
_Eva Brighi_: *bring Stephan over and have some 

— 

**THURSDAY **  
**31 OCTOBER **  
**08:21**

_Eva Brighi_ changed the group name to _give it up for day 34 _

— 

_Eleonora Sava_ to _Edoardo Incanti_: I’m sorry I couldn’t come earlier last night   
_Eleonora Sava_: but I am glad I came   
_Edoardo Incanti_: me too 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ele's date outfit picture comes from Benni's instagram [here](https://www.instagram.com/p/BjAXO7cFgkY/) and her WhatsApp profile pic comes from Benni's insta [here](https://www.instagram.com/p/BuOezgCAbyu/)
> 
> the tiramisu pic comes from this [tastemade recipe](https://www.tastemade.co.uk/videos/classic-tiramisu). I did not try it I have no idea if its good lmao
> 
> ily all


	2. you make me super impatient (can you feel the tension?)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stephan nods as well, eyes darting between her and Edoardo, and heads back into the living room when she doesn’t move. 
> 
> Edoardo must feel her stare drilling into his back because he stands, coming to his full height, and turns to her. For a moment, her heart pounds so loudly she thinks he might hear it. But then he quirks an eyebrow at her, and repeats with a terrible English accent, “Nora?”
> 
> “It’s what I went by over there,” she says as a teasing grin spreads on his face. He’s laughing at her, and she shoves his shoulder lightly. “Don’t be an ass about it.” 
> 
> He shakes his head, still grinning. “Go get your stuff.” 
> 
> She almost forgot she has to leave now, and it makes her brain short circuit, again, to hear him say it. Surges forward, she wraps her arms around his shoulders, and it takes a moment for his arms to come around her, large hands palming her back. This is the first time she’s really hugged him like this, entire body thrown into it, and there’s more damn wiggles in her chest. 
> 
> This is shaping up to be the most confusing night ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't make it super clear but whenever Stephan is talking, it's in English and people talk back to him in English but the rest of the time they're speaking Italian lmao 
> 
> chapter title comes from "outta my head" by khalid and john mayer what legends

**WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30 **  
**21:02 **  
**DOWNTOWN MILAN **

> _20:59, message from _**Eva **  
[pic]   
Don’t be impressed or anything   
But edo taught me how to make tiramisu tonight   
And it’s fucking delicious  
Bring Stephan over and have some 👅👅👅 

Eleonora shoves her phone into her pocket as Stephan exits the little pastry shop, paper bag in hand, and wonders for the fifth time that night why she bailed on dinner. Sure, it’s nice to be with Stephan again, he was her closest friend from the program—more than a friend, if she’s being truly honest—but they made fucking _tiramisu_—her favorite and Eva _knows_ it’s her favorite even though it’s only been two months since they started living together, this is clearly bait and it’s _working_—and Stephan is insisting on taking her to tourist trap after tourist trap. She’s lived in Milan for three years now, a cathedral is a cathedral no matter how fancy they look, and she doesn’t want to talk about how the decoration on this particular set of buttresses compares to the decoration on the buttresses from the church they were at previously.

Not to mention it’s fucking nine o’clock at night and all the cathedrals are _closed_ and he’s offering this commentary from beyond their fancy fences in _English _because his Italian is shit and she only wants to die a little bit.

“Here,” Stephan says, offering the bag to her with a smile, and Eleonora peeks inside at the two _cannoli_ he got, thinks of Eva’s message, and reaches inside to grab one. Edoardo’s place is way too close for her not to be tempted.

“So,” she starts, biting into the _cannolo_ and getting filling all over her chin. Stephan laughs a little, as does she, but before he can do something like wipe it off for her, she swipes the filling up her chin and into her already full mouth, turning away so he can’t see more of the mess.

God, this night is going well.

She chews and swallows hastily, looking back to him with her hand over her mouth. “Sorry.”

“No, you’re fine,” he says. “Perhaps I should’ve got napkins.”

“Maybe.” She offers him a little smile, but judging by the look on his face it probably turned into a grimace. She starts walking again just so that she can stop making stupid expressions. “Listen, you said you wanted to try authentic Italian food, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, good.” She gestures with her _cannolo_ and thinks of how best to phrase her proposition without it sounding like she’s trying to escape their outing. “Now, these are pretty good, but my friend just told me he made _tiramisu_ tonight and he’s the best at cooking, baking, you name it.” Hopefully Eva lives up to the hype, or that Edoardo had a hand in most of the preparation. “Do you want to go try it?”

Stephan sounds hesitant. “Would we be interrupting anything?”

“No, no, he always invites people over when he makes stuff,” she says. “He even said I should bring you.”

Stephan latches onto the wrong part of the sentence. “You’ve told your friends about me?”

_Shit_, her eyes laser on the sidewalk. “Um, yeah, when we were making plans for this week.”

“Okay.” His tone is smug and she takes another bite of her _cannolo_ to avoid saying anything more. “Sounds fun.”

It’s more of a relief than it should be to know that she’ll make it to Edoardo’s tonight. “Great! His place is right around here.”

—

**WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30 **  
**21:37 **  
**VILLA BOYS’ APARTMENT **

Everyone keeps trying their English out on Stephan. At first it’s amusing, watching him try to navigate Chicco and Rocco shouting every statistic they know about the football teams in the UK at him, and then Luca practicing his various accents (Russian is Eleonora’s favorite) for Stephan’s approval, and then Silvia and Federica having the bright idea that they’ll talk at him in English and he’ll answer back in his terrible Italian and they’ll give each other tips.

Then it becomes her downright favorite thing that’s happened tonight because everyone is so invested in talking to him that Eleonora doesn’t have to anymore. Whether or not that makes her a bad person is a moral quandary she’ll explore later. For now?

“Oh, sorry, didn’t see you there.” Edoardo bumps into her, tone overly casual, startling her enough that she drops her fork, and leans against the counter next to her. He says, surprised, “Oh, shit, sorry,” and bends to pick it up off the floor.

She stares at the mop of curls on his head and regrets, again, not coming to dinner earlier. He holds it out to her, a little smile on his face. What the fuck is he up to? “Here.”

“Ah, yes, exactly what I wanted,” she says, raising her eyebrows at him. “Floor fork to go with my fantastic _tiramisu_.”

“Glad to know you think it’s fantastic.” He places the fork in the sink behind them and pulls another out of a drawer. A beat passes and he doesn’t hand it to her.

“Glad to know you don’t understand sarcasm.” It really is good _tiramisu_, the best she’s had in a while, but he’s holding her fork hostage and _that_ is uncalled for. She holds her hand out, palm up. “Can I have that?”

“It’ll cost you.”

She narrows her eyes at him, gaze lingering on the little smile that’s come on his face again, and thinks. Seriously, what the fuck is he up to? “What?”

He nods at the plate in her other hand. “Half your piece.”

That fucker, she just barely started eating it when he made her drop her fork! He narrows his eyes as well, smile growing into something more like a teasing grin, and she relents. “Fine.”

Shifting forward, Eleonora moves to lean her forearms on the island countertop in front of them, setting her plate down so that when Edoardo mimics her, it rests between them. She has to force her eyes from his forearms when he presses them into the countertop. He brandishes the fork, raising his eyebrows at her, when they’re interrupted.

“I think we’re gonna get going, guys,” Martino calls from the kitchen doorway and she looks over to find him and Niccolo standing very, very close to one another, jackets pulled haphazardly on, and cheeks slightly red. She wonders if they also took advantage of the hubbub around Stephan to do more…_exciting_ things than practice their English.

A chorus of goodbyes sends them off, Elia taking a dramatic moment to give them each a bear hug, and as the door closes behind them, Edoardo says to her, “One time I caught them in my room. During a party.”

“In your room.”

“In my room.” He shrugs, stabbing the fork into the _tiramisu_. “Not as bad as the time I walked in on Eva and some random guy, though.”

She grimaces. “Also in your room?”

“Also in my room.”

Shaking her head, she pushes the plate closer to him as he puts the fork in his mouth. “Just for that, you can have as much as you want.”

He laughs a little but hands the fork over as he chews and her eyes catch on his smile as he looks at her. Something wiggles in her chest and she takes her own bite to distract herself.

Taking the fork back when she hands it to him, he asks, “How’s it been with Stephan?”

“Um—” she swallows, _tiramisu_ suddenly ash in her mouth, and that thing in her chest wiggles again. Why is he asking her this? “What do you mean?”

“I mean, you said you dated him back in high school, right?” He asks, glancing away from her. “Isn’t that what this whole week is?” He stabs at the plate again and she looks at the countertop. “A whole bunch of dates?”

Maybe to Stephan. Fuck, is he thinking that? Does Edoardo seriously think she’s trying to date Stephan? “No, no. He’s just been coming to Italy every year for so long that it’s kind of like a habit at this point.”

She bites her lip again and looks up just as he looks over, turning the fork upside down and putting it into his mouth, and, shit, she’s always known deep down somewhere inside her that Edoardo is attractive, but watching him pull a fork out of his mouth should _not_ be that hot. More wiggling in her chest. “I don’t—I don’t know if we’ll do it again.”

“Why not?”

She shrugs and turns her gaze to the countertop, playing with her fingers and trying to say something coherent. _Because the entire time I was on a decently romantic outing with him, I was thinking of being back here in your apartment_. “We’ve both changed over the years, I don’t know if there’s much connection anymore.”

A beat passes where neither of them say anything and, against all common sense, she glances over at him again. He must’ve had a rather large bite of _tiramisu_, because there’s filling dotted at the corner of his mouth and a little on his bottom lip. “You have—”

Her brain must’ve stopped computing. That’s exactly what happened. Because a normal person with a working brain would’ve just pointed at it, let Edoardo wipe it away himself, and left it at that. But, _no_—

Eleonora finds herself reaching over, swiping the filling off his very soft lip with her thumb, making eye contact, and fucking sticking her thumb in her mouth. What are napkins? What is sanity? What is a normal goddamn human interaction? She’s never heard of any of those.

His lips part just a hair as she pulls her thumb, clean now, from her mouth, and for the second time that night, she wants to die a little. What the fuck is she doing?

Before she can make an even greater fool of herself, Stephan returns to the kitchen. “Nora?”

“Hm?” She jumps at the chance to look away from Edoardo, watching her with something she might pin as adoration in his eyes (if she allowed herself time to think about it), and pushes off from the counter.

“I’ve got to get going, we’re starting pretty early in the morning.”

“Right.” He’s speaking in English and it takes her a moment to translate. What is he talking about? Why is he telling her this? Glancing down, she sees that Edoardo holds so much tension in his shoulders and swallows, nodding at Stephan. “Right. Um, let me just get my stuff.”

Stephan nods as well, eyes darting between her and Edoardo, and heads back into the living room when she doesn’t move.

Edoardo must feel her stare drilling into his back because he stands, coming to his full height, and turns to her. For a moment, her heart pounds so loudly she thinks he might hear it. But then he quirks an eyebrow at her, and repeats with a terrible English accent, “_Nora_?”

“It’s what I went by over there,” she says as a teasing grin spreads on his face. He’s _laughing_ at her, and she shoves his shoulder lightly. “Don’t be an ass about it.”

He shakes his head, still grinning. “Go get your stuff.”

She almost forgot she has to leave now, and it makes her brain short circuit, again, to hear him say it. Surges forward, she wraps her arms around his shoulders, and it takes a moment for his arms to come around her, large hands palming her back. This is the first time she’s really hugged him like this, entire body thrown into it, and there’s more damn wiggles in her chest.

This is shaping up to be the most confusing night ever.

There’s a cough from the doorway and when she looks over, Stephan is standing there, her jacket and bag in hand. Hastily, she draws back from Edoardo, somehow already missing the gentle pressure of his hands as they drop to his side. His head is bowed as he leans his hip into the counter, but he’s looking up at her through his lashes with a little smile, and she brushes a strand of hair from her face. “Um, thanks for inviting us.”

He bites his lip. “Anytime.”

In the living room, Eleonora finds herself giving everyone massive hugs, Stephan watching from the front door, so he doesn’t peg her goodbye to Edoardo as out of sorts. She doesn’t want him asking questions she doesn’t have the answers to.

Edoardo watches as well, leaning against the kitchen doorway with an expression akin to smugness as her confused friends take her giant hugs instead of the typical cheek kiss in stride. Chicco and Federico especially make a big deal out of it, squishing her in a group hug between them, and Edoardo winks at her as she catches his eye.

What a fucking mess.

Stephan says as they make it into the stairwell, “Your friends are fun.”

_They’re a nightmare, is what they are_. “Thanks.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ily all


	3. come on superman, say your stupid line

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes his life is fucked. “Go find a girl and get your mind off her.” 
> 
> “Fede, I don’t think you understand,” Edo says, mind whirring. His cousin is going to go fuck one of his friends, the girl he thinks might be the love of his life is currently on a date with a man she only sees once a year, and he’s drinking the shittiest beer he thinks Chicco has ever brought to him. Nothing makes sense, but the buzz is nice and he takes another swig. 
> 
> What is he saying? Something, something about Ele, Eleonora, the most beautiful woman in the entire world. “She’s so—so—”
> 
> Behind him, a soft voice he would know anywhere interrupts, “So what?” 
> 
> Ele stands at his shoulder, eyebrows raised, and watches him make a fool of himself turning around. Good, she’s here; he can tell her what he needs to tell her, now, once he remembers what it is. “Ele!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter title from "the less I know the better" by tame impala

**SATURDAY, 2 NOVEMBER**  
** 22:19**  
** VILLA BOYS' APARTMENT**

“Ele,” Edo mumbles, thumbing at the top of his bottle and Fede looks over at him, brows raised. He has to tell Ele something, he knows this and not much else. Fede would know where to find her, right? Right? “Ele, Fede where’s Ele?”

“What the fuck are you on right now?” Fede asks, shrugging Edo’s hand off his shoulder. “She’s not here, said she wasn’t coming, remember?”

“Ah, really?” He asks, frowning. Surprised that he doesn’t remember something Ele told him, Edo thinks back over the past few days. Monday, he hadn’t seen her, which was the worst, but Tuesday she came to their study group and sat next to him and leaned over to write something on his notebook and he couldn’t think of anything but the way her hair smelled for the rest of the session. Wednesday, again, he failed to see her, but she did text him for over an hour that night. Thursday, Eva made him take them to lunch, Ele pressed her foot into the side of his leg, and he could barely concentrate on the conversation. Friday, he’d seen her with Stephan, her friend from that study program in England she’d done in high school and that, that was when she told him she wouldn’t be coming tonight. Plans with Stephan while he was still in town, or something. Who was he kidding? There wasn’t an or something, he remembers practically every word that she’s ever spoken in his presence, at least when he’s sober enough. “Fuck, I don’t—God, I forgot.”

“Maybe you should stop drinking every time you see her, man.” Fede tips his own bottle to his mouth. “Or, every time you see her and she’s with another guy.”

Edo shoves him. “I hate you sometimes.”

“Only when I’m right.” Fede gestures to the crowd of people filling up their apartment, dancing to the music pounding through the room, or drinking, or talking in dark corners. His eyes catch Eva pulling Gio by his tie down the hallway toward the bedrooms that’s strictly off limits during parties and takes a long swallow from his bottle. His cousin is likely going to go do it on his bed. God, sometimes his life is fucked. “Go find a girl and get your mind off her.”

“Fede, I don’t think you understand,” Edo says, mind whirring. His cousin is going to go fuck one of his friends, the girl he thinks might be the love of his life is currently on a date with a man she only sees once a year, and he’s drinking the shittiest beer he thinks Chicco has ever brought to him. Nothing makes sense, but the buzz is nice and he takes another swig.

What is he saying? Something, something about Ele, Eleonora, the most beautiful woman in the entire world. “She’s so—so—”

Behind him, a soft voice he would know anywhere interrupts, “So what?”

Ele stands at his shoulder, eyebrows raised, and watches him make a fool of himself turning around. Good, she’s here; he can tell her what he needs to tell her, now, once he remembers what it is. “Ele!”

“Hi,” She chuckles and his eyes catch on her smile. “You look like you’re having fun.”

“Only ‘cause you’re here.” That’s close to what he wants to say, right? Almost, almost, that damn smile is too distracting. The blue lights hung in the windows cast a glow across her face and she looks like a fucking angel.

There. That’s closer.

She shakes her head at him and peeks over at Fede, watching them with thinly veiled amusement. “How much have you let him drink?”

“He was very distraught earlier when he remembered that you said you weren’t coming,” Fede reports and Edo frowns, but catches the flicker of Ele’s eyes back to his face. His lips part, he doesn’t want Ele knowing he forgot something she told him. Or Fede answering any questions about him, the fucking liar. “Chicco was with him first.”

He lists to the side a little and Ele’s hand catches his chest. His mouth is very, very dry. “You let him start off with Chicco? Fede!”

“It’s probably for the best,” Edo interjects, drawing her eyes back to his. They’re wide, green, and shining in the blue light around them, and he momentarily forgets how to speak, as per fucking usual around her. “Hopefully I drank enough to forget that Eva took Gio back to fuck in my bed.”

And the filter, that’s broken, too.

Ele, though, smiles and shakes her head again before slipping the bottle from his hand and setting it on the counter behind him. She nods into the kitchen. “C’mon, let’s get something else to drink.”

The fucking, the fucking Sanpellegrino, he has to tell her about the Sanpellegrino. He follows after her, stumbling only on the first step. She looks over her shoulder at him, placing a hand on his arm. He might combust. “Careful.”

In the kitchen, he spots Marti standing with Nico next to the fridge and calls across the room, Ele fisting her hand in his shirt. “Marti, hey, in the fridge, two of the Sanpellegrino.”

Marti manages to open the fridge amidst the mass of bodies crowded in the kitchen and ducks to look inside. “Ah, orange or pomegranate?”

Edo looks over at Ele, raising an eyebrow, and she smiles a little smile at him. Again, he almost forgets how to speak. “Which would you like?”

“Pomegranate, Marti, please,” she says, turning to address him and grab the cans he slides across the island counter, and Edo bites his lip when she looks back at him. So damn beautiful. She holds a can out to him, eyebrows raising. “Sanpellegrino?”

He shrugs and leans his hip into the counter, opening the can in his hands before trading her. “Last time you came you didn’t drink anything and I wanted to make sure there was something if you decided to come again.”

There’s that fucking smile again. “Then how’d you know my favorites?”

“Ah,” he ducks his head. “Eva told me.”

“Of course she did.” She doesn’t sound mad, she sounds pleased, actually, and he dares to look up. Her eyes are turned away and she sips at her drink, gaze darting around the party, and he registers a few things: her hand is still gripping his shirt and he succeeded in telling her about the Sanpellegrino. Only one thing to go, if he can fucking remember what it is.

“What made you change your mind?”

“Hm?” Ele peeks over at him, red, red lips curving, and he stares at them for only a moment before fixing his eyes back on hers.

“About coming to the party.”

“Oh.” She looks back into the crowd and the blush that spreads on her cheeks is promising. He tells his hopes to stay firmly where they are and bites his lip, leaning a little closer to hear her better, and catches a whiff of her hair, just as distracting as before. “Ah, Stephan’s flight left earlier than I thought it would, and I figured I could stop by.”

“Very nice of you.”

She smiles, wry, and, fuck, she’s so gorgeous. “Thank you.”

That’s it, that’s what he needs to tell her, if she doesn’t already know. God, how embarrassing would it be if she already knows he thinks she’s beautiful? Edo swallows and prays he isn’t invading her space too much. “Ele, I need to tell you something.”

“Okay.” Her mouth forms the word carefully, and he has to force himself to look back at her eyes. Her big, amazing eyes. Hopefully, she doesn’t notice when his breath catches in his chest. “Tell me.”

“You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen, I think,” he says and tries not to let his eyes widen too much as her hand pulls at his shirt a little more and her lips part and just the center of her brow raises, face opening. Fuck. Fuck, he’s so gone. “So fucking beautiful.”

“Edo—” Not Edoardo, Edo. He can’t stop the smile forming on his face.

“Hey, man.” Chicco claps him on the shoulder, startling him and Ele, and he tries not to get too annoyed. “Dina’s outside, complaining, and you know she likes you best.”

“Chicco, really?”

Chicco rolls his eyes. “Dude, she’s gonna call the cops if you don’t go charm her.”

Edo really doesn’t want to, he’d much rather stay put and listen to whatever Ele was going to say, but Chicco starts pulling him out of the kitchen and he doesn’t have the best control of his body, at the moment, and winds up standing in the open doorway. Dina, their tiny little landlady, stands with her arms folded across her chest and he hopes with his whole soul that she’s feeling kind tonight. “Dina.”

“Edo.” She’s frowning. This is not a good start. “What have I told you boys about the music?”

The music that’s still currently playing just inside the apartment. He opens his mouth to say something, anything, but Dina’s furious gaze slides from his face to something next to him and turns immediately into something more pleasant. A small hand touches his back. “Now, who’s this?”

He looks over his shoulder. Ele. Fuck. “Did you get a girlfriend and not tell me about her, Edoardo?”

He panics for a moment, but Ele, amazing, fantastic, wonderful Ele, pulls his arm up around her shoulders and slides her arm around his waist. Forget combusting because she touched his chest, he might actually implode, now. Her body is so, so warm against his, even in the heat of the party, and she gives him a practiced smile before looking at Dina. “Yeah, we’ve only been dating for a little while, though. I’m Eleonora.”

“Ondina.” Dina is smiling now, and reaches out to clasp Ele’s cheeks and plant kisses on them. “Ah, a girlfriend, just what Edo needs.” She reaches for his face, now, and he stoops so she can press a kiss there. “Oh, very good, very good.”

Dina, so happy at the recent turn of events, toddles away with a sweet goodbye, leaving Edo standing in the open doorway, Ele still pressed into his side. “Fuck, thank you.”

She steps back, leaning against the doorframe, and he mimics her. “Not a problem.”

“Seriously, you saved my ass.”

A wide, teasing grin cracks on her face and his heart spasms. God, she’s incredible. “Anything for the guy who thinks I’m the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen.”

His own smile slips onto his mouth and he looks away. “Fuck.”

“What, did you not mean it?” She asks, still amused, and her tone alone draws his eyes back to her face. “You’re drunk?”

He bites his lip. “No, no, I mean it.”

This smile kills him. “Good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ily all


	4. those nights when you crave someone to be there at dawn, to wake with

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A hand shoves at his shoulder and the blanket twists out of his grasp. “You’re hogging all the—” a grunt as he fists at the duvet again, “—fucking blankets, Edo.” 
> 
> “‘m cold,” he whines, and curls the blanket over his shoulder. 
> 
> “So am I.” 
> 
> Tired, he’s so tired, and his head is pounding. His mouth works faster than his mind does, and he says, “Then, fucking, come here.” 
> 
> Ele must be just as tired as he is, because she doesn’t even protest, doesn’t even question what he says, just scoots toward him and burrows into his side, letting him pull the blanket up over her body—and his—and pillows her head on his bare shoulder. 
> 
> “Better?” His brain still isn’t working correctly. 
> 
> She nods, but says, “Shut up,” and he does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter title comes from "those nights" by Bastille, an absolute bop

**SUNDAY**  
**3 NOVEMBER **  
**02:47 **  
**VILLA BOYS’ APARTMENT**

His phone starts buzzing on the pillow next to his head and he groans. From his room, Chicco yells, “Shut the fuck up, man!” and Edo muffles his face in the pillow. His phone keeps buzzing, though, so he picks it up and takes the call without a care for who it is, just to get it to stop going off.

“Hello?”

“_Hey_,” Ele says, and Edo shoots up in his bed. She’s fucking _talking to him on the phone_. Fuck. “_I didn’t wake you up, did I?_”

“No, no,” he insists, clearing the sleep from his throat. “No, I was just—cleaning up.”

“_At three in the morning?_” She sounds dubious and it makes him smile.

“Maybe.”

“_Okay, weirdo_,” she says, laughing a little. Fuck, he wants to make her laugh all the time.

“Um,” he starts, scooting to the edge of his mattress and slipping his feet onto the floor. “What’s up?”

“_Well, I’m currently outside your building._”

What the fuck? She’s _here_? Still? The party ended a half hour ago, he watched her annoy Eva and Gio into getting up from their tangle on the couch because Gio had been her ride, she’d given him another amazing hug—longer than just a few seconds, take _that_, Stephan—and a shy smile as she herded Eva and Gio out the door, and then had to come back to retrieve a passed out Elia. Edo had helped her carry Elia down the stairs and into Gio’s waiting car and she’d given him yet another very long hug. Her hair smelled fruity and her shirt was really soft and she’d bit her lip, corners of her eyes going all squinty, when his hand accidentally brushed the skin where her shirt rid up as they pulled away.

Has he mentioned that he accidentally touched her bare waist? The tiny sliver of skin exposed when her shirt rode up as she put her arms around his neck—_around his fucking neck?_

_Fuck_, he’s so gone.

“I, uh, I thought you left?” He slips off his bed, pulling on the nearest pair of sweatpants and accidentally tripping over a pair of shoes. “Shit.”

“_Everything okay?_” She asks in time with Chicco yelling, again, “Shut the fuck up, Edo!”

He makes it out of his room in one piece, which is a good thing, and stumbles a little down the hall. The combination of all the alcohol he drank before Ele showed up at the party (and then once she was there) along with the late hour means his body isn’t working for shit. “Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine. Chicco’s just feeling a little, uh, sensitive at the moment.”

She snorts as he manages to find the front door in the dark and buzzes her in, and he listens to the reliable creak of the doors and the hum of the elevator as it makes its way to the ground floor.

“Everything okay with you?” He asks, leaning his back into wall next to the door to wait for her to make it upstairs.

“_Yeah, we just made it to our place and Nico and Marti were fucking._” He inhales sharply at her comment and she laughs, and that might as well be the killing blow. Ele has him laid out on the floor at this point in their friendship—relationship, whatever the fuck she wants to call it, honestly—and there’s really not anything he wouldn’t let her do to him.

Does she know that?

“Like, you walked in on them?” He asks, recovered from his mild choking incident, the _ding_ for the elevator going off on the other line.

“_No, there’s a sock on the door handle—_” the amount of times she’s made her way to his apartment saying or texting or shouting those exact words is astronomical, but he can’t find it within himself to be annoyed at the fact, “_—but I didn’t want to see if they had finished or not._”

“And going back to Gio’s with Eva…?”

“_I think you can answer that question yourself._”

He closes his eyes for a moment, trying to rid his brain of the image of Gio and Eva together, and says, “Careful, Ele, that’s my cousin you’re talking about.”

The elevator dings again and, for some reason, his heart starts pounding in his chest. Why, Edo has no idea, but it might be tied to the fact that, out of all the apartments in Milan that Ele could’ve chosen to go to tonight, she picked his.

“_Mm, forgive me if I can’t sympathize with you._”

“And why’s that?”

“_Marti and Nico aren’t the only ones I have to deal with._” He can hear her walking down the hallway, voice bouncing off the empty walls, and swallows.

There’s a knock on his door. He pulls himself off the wall and hesitates for just a moment before pulling it open. Ele stands there, phone pressed to her ear, amused smile on her face, still wearing that damn white shirt that rides up when she raises her arms, and he has trouble breathing again for a second. Neither of them say anything for a moment, Ele’s expression flickering from amusement to something else—the corners of her mouth dropping, lips parting, eyebrows raising just a hair—and Edo forgets what they were talking about. What’s wrong—

Shit. He forgot to put on a shirt as he left his room.

“Hey,” he says, moving to stand half behind the door and let her into his apartment. Hastily, he hangs up and shoves his phone into the pocket of his sweatpants as she crosses the threshold, decidedly not making eye contact with him. He reaches across his chest to scratch his shoulder, just to have a reason to cover some of his skin, and closes the door as she toes off her shoes and puts them and her bag in the corner by the coatrack. A door opens down the hallway, but it’s probably just Rocco getting up to pee or something, so he doesn’t give it a second thought. As she pulls off her jacket—wait _his_ jacket that she _stole_ on the way out; he remembers that, now, too, everything is a little hazy—he says, trying not to let the idea catch hold of anything too important in his brain, “So, um, I’ll need to put clean sheets on my bed but you can sleep there—”

“Edo,” Chicco interrupts, standing in doorway to the living room, one hand on the wall, holding himself up, face scrunched up in confusion and eyes flickering between the two of them. Edo looks to Ele, lips pressed together and eyebrows shooting up her forehead, and his stomach plummets. Shit, _shit._ “Seriously? At three in the fucking morning?”

She says, before anyone can make a further mess of things, “Hi, Chicco.”

“Hey, Ele.” Chicco’s eyes flicker over to her as she heads for the hallway, face taking on a guilty quality as he realizes that it’s not just Edo caught up in his insinuation, and he moves to the side so she can slip past him. “Hope you had fun at the party.”

“Always a good time.” She disappears into Edo’s room and almost instantly Edo finds himself next to Chicco, hitting him lightly in the stomach.

“What the fuck, man?” He hisses, keeping his voice low, and Chicco glares at him.

“Dude! Your phone went off and then you were talking _super loudly_ and then I come out here to tell you to fuck off and _Ele’s_ here?” Chicco whisper-yells back and flicks Edo in the nipple. “_And_ you’ve got your tits out? What else am I supposed to think?”

“God, I hate you sometimes.” Edo shoves past him, ignoring the pounding in his chest again. None of this has to mean anything unless he lets it mean something, or Ele lets it mean something—god, if _Ele_ wants it to mean something, he might combust—even if he really, _really_ wants it to mean something.

He’s such a fucking asshole, though, forgetting to put on a shirt and then letting his shit friend just assume things about him and Ele. God, she’s just here to sleep, nothing more, nothing less, even if it’s in his bed.

Ele is going to sleep in his bed.

Fuck.

—

**03:11 **  
**EDO’S ROOM**

“You’re sure you don’t want help with those?”

Edo looks over his shoulder at Ele standing next to his dresser, her hands in a drawer, and turns back to the fitted sheet that’s going to be the death of him, if Ele doesn’t get there first. “Yeah, yeah, I’m just a little tired.”

“You’re not still drunk, are you?” She asks and before he knows anything else, she’s crossed the room and pulled him around, one agile hand on his bare shoulder and the other grasping his cheek. She’s so close to him, too close, and puts her other hand on his face as well, using her thumbs to pull at the skin just under his bottom eyelid. For a moment, his mind blanks and all he can think about is her breath fanning across his face, how a few strands of hair are caught across her forehead, how she’s standing there almost pressed against his person, and how soft her hands are; then his brain refocuses, but only on the shudder of her breath and the minuscule widening of her eyes and how she pauses before pulling his head down to her height so she can study his eyes. “When did you stop drinking—”

She really is pulling his eyelids down to check if his eyes are bloodshot, and he registers that she’s concerned for him, legitimately _concerned_ for his wellbeing; but then his brain goes: _she’s so close to you, you still haven’t found your way into a shirt and she _doesn’t care_ and her hands—both of them—are on your face, not just her thumb on your lip_—and he has to bat her hands away. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

Luckily, it comes out teasing and not as something else, and Ele purses her lips at him. He raises his eyebrows. “You _know_ we don’t play doctor here, Ele, we succumb to our hangovers like men.” She looks at him, eyebrows raised in almost a mirror of his, and he manages to nod at the door. “You can ask Chicco.”

“Well, you all are incredibly stupid,” she says, mouth twitching up at the corner, and she backs up to his dresser. “I hope you and the sheets have a good time.”

“Oh, we’ll have the best time.” Edo turns around, ignoring his palpitating heart and the absence of her hands on his afce and focusing on the way she laughs a little more and starts rummaging through his drawer again.

Fuck, what was that? Good hell, she really is trying to kill him.

“Mm, don’t look.”

Impulsively, he does the opposite of what she asks and glances over his shoulder. “Hm?”

She’s turned away from him, facing the dresser and pulling her shirt over her head. He catches a glimpse of her bare back, dotted sporadically with freckles, the light blue band of her bra, and her hair catching in the neck of her shirt before he has the sense to turn back to the sheets. The image burns into his eyelids, however hard he tries to push it from his mind, and his own words from earlier in the night return to him.

_You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen, I think. So fucking beautiful._

A few minutes later—minutes full of fabric rustling and light breathing and Edo focusing solely on the fucking fitted sheet—Ele asks, “Where are you going to sleep?”

“Ah,” he starts, finally managing to get the last corner of the sheet pulled tight, and takes a chance, looking over at her.

Mistake.

Instead of a shirt from his dresser, she put on the one he pulled off himself earlier during his first attempt to go so sleep. She must know that, that it’s the shirt he was wearing all night; they spent basically the entire rest of the party together once she arrived, and the thought that she deliberately chose that over all the other _clean_ shirts in his dresser?

Edo swallows and turns back to the bed, unfolding the top sheet. “Probably just on the couch.”

“As someone who’s fallen asleep on that couch a few times—” he tries not to think about the first time she did it, accidentally, way back in September, “—I feel kind of bad for kicking you out of your bed.”

“Are you saying my couch isn’t the comfiest thing you’ve ever slept on?” Deflection is good, deflection means he doesn’t have to think about what her words mean.

“Ha, ha,” she says, coming up next to him and grabbing part of the sheet. “You’re hilarious.”

For a moment, they just shake the sheet out over the mattress and his eyes find her hands, smaller than his, gripping the fabric and tucking in her corner with a quick efficiency of someone much more practiced than him. His mind wanders to all the things he doesn’t know about her, yet, but it doesn’t detract from the way his chest tingles when their eyes meet and she smiles at him.

He moves to tuck in his corner of the sheets and she bites her lip, putting her hands on her hips and standing away from the bed. He looks away from her, mind catching on the way his sweatpants bunch up around her ankles, how she’s rolled the waistband a few times, and how the neck of his shirt is slipping a little off her shoulder, the blue strap of her bra just visible. “Listen, why don’t you just sleep in here?”

Pausing, he tries to gather his resolve. What the fuck is she trying to ask him? “Because _you’re_ sleeping in here.”

“You’ve got a fucking California king,” she scoffs, gesturing at the mattress.

“It’s just a king.”

“Same difference.” She brushes the hair out of her face. “It’s big enough for both of us if we just stay on our own sides, right?”

He meets her eyes, heart stopping a little, sees the nervous tick of her teeth against her lip, and cocks his head to the side. The idea that she actually wants to share a bed with him truly might drive him into an early grave. “Okay.”

She nods, expression softening into something less worried and more, dare he say it, pleased. They take a quiet moment to pull the pillowcases over his pillows and his duvet back onto the mattress and then he swallows, crossing the room to reach the light switch and trying not to listen to the sheets rustling and Ele’s sigh as she climbs into his bed.

He flicks off the lights, plunging the room into darkness, and steels himself for a long night.

—

**04:53**  
**EDO’S BED**

The mattress shifting wakes him up, or shakes him into a vague coherence, and he blinks until he can make out the figure climbing from his bed. Ele.

Edo swears lightly under his breath, rolling onto his back, and she exits the room, mumbling something he doesn’t catch. He rubs his hands over his face, trying to remember _why_, exactly, Ele is in his bed, and a light down the hallway turns on before quickly slivering out as the door to the bathroom closes.

Right: the party, the complimenting, the fact that he now knows Marti and Nico and Gio and Eva fuck at all hours of the day, Chicco being an ass, Ele choosing to sleep in the clothes he was _just_ wearing, and then all but insisting he sleep in the same bed as her.

His head pounds; he feels too much like shit to have a proper freak out, especially as the toilet flushes, the faucet runs, and then Ele pads back to his room and into his bed.

“Shit,” she mutters, propping herself up on her hand and looking down at him. Her face, scrunched up in concern, is the only thing his mind registers as it starts back down the path to sleep. She’s an angel, honestly, a foul-mouthed, crazy smart, wickedly funny angel. “Did I wake you up again?”

“Just—pretend you didn’t.” She presses her lips together and narrows her eyes and he manages to wave his hand. “Seriously, don’t worry about it.”

“Hm, okay.”

His eyes close and the mattress moves again as she lays back down. Their arms brush (king who?) but his mind is too addled to make much of it, it just makes him shift over so their arms press even more together. “Okay.”

**—**

**07:24**  
**EDO’S BED**

A hand shoves at his shoulder and the blanket twists out of his grasp. “You’re hogging all the—” a grunt as he fists at the duvet again, “—fucking blankets, Edo.”

“‘m cold,” he whines, and curls the blanket over his shoulder.

“So am I.”

Tired, he’s _so_ tired, and his head is pounding. His mouth works faster than his mind does, and he says, “Then, fucking, come here.”

Ele must be just as tired as he is, because she doesn’t even protest, doesn’t even question what he says, just scoots toward him and burrows into his side, letting him pull the blanket up over her body—and his—and pillows her head on his bare shoulder.

“Better?” His brain still isn’t working correctly.

She nods, but says, “Shut up,” and he does.

**—**

**10:15**  
**VILLA BOYS’ KITCHEN**

Edo knocks on the doorframe after watching Ele wander around his kitchen for a minute or so and she gives him a bright smile when she looks over at him. He can’t help but smile back as she does this little walk-run to stand in front of him. “Thank god, you’re awake.” She bites her lip. “I can’t figure out how your coffee machine works.”

“Mm, really?” He raises an eyebrow at her. “It’s pretty simple.”

“Okay, not all of us grew up with state of the art coffee-makers, you know.” She folds her arms across her chest, tilting her chin up.

“State of the art?” He moves past her, just brushing against her shoulder, and claps his hand on the machine. “We got this piece of shit on eBay for, like, two hundred euros and it breaks every other week.”

“Still cost more than my mum’s,” she says, watching as he checks the filter and searches through the cabinet above the machine for the coffee mix. Chicco likes to hide it behind the mugs because Fede makes shit coffee and gives up if it takes too long to find the tin.

Edo looks over at her, letting a little smirk slide onto his face, and shrugs. “Sounds like you don’t want to admit you _still_ can’t work a coffee machine even though you’ve been drinking coffee since you were, what, six?”

“Nine, more like,” Ele corrects, tongue in her cheek.

He’s always assumed she and Eva are the same age, but he isn’t sure. “And you’re…?”

She makes a clicking sound, now, but the corners of her mouth are twitching up. “Twenty two.”

“That’s a long time to not know how to work a coffee machine.”

“Dick.” She bumps her hip against his as he’s spooning the coffee into the filter and it spills all over the counter. When he looks over at her, half-glaring, she’s trying not to smile. “Oh, damn. Guess we’ll have to go to a cafe, or something.”

“Or something.”

She starts walking backward out of the kitchen, a slight saunter in her step, and it hits him that she actually did spend the night. And in his bed, no less.He didn’t imagine her getting up to pee or fighting him over the blankets, those things _actually_ happened. He bites his lip to stop from grinning, but fails as she raises her eyebrows and shoulders before spinning around and exiting the kitchen.

“You’re paying, right?” He asks, following after her into the living room, taking in the sight of her in his sweatpants, his shirt, and letting his heart swoop for just a moment. She might not have actually killed him last night, but, shit, she was close. “You know, because I provided a nice bed for you to sleep in last night?”

“Why don’t you use some of those euros you saved when you bought your coffee machine off eBay, instead?” She looks over her shoulder at him as they reach the hallway, a wry look on her face. “I’m gonna change. Maybe you should see if Chicco wants anything?”

“Okay.” They stop in the doorway to his bedroom, Edo gives her a small smile, and she rewards him with one in turn, almost shyly, now, which sends his mind into overdrive. There’s a reason Ele’s feeling shy, but he can’t let himself hope that it has something to do with him.

“Okay.”

“Okay.” She stares at him for a moment, head tilting to the side, and he shifts on his feet. Why the _fuck_ is he just standing there, still? He points down the hallway, “I’m gonna—”

“Yeah.” She nods and disappears behind the door.

He does actually go to Chicco’s room and knocks once before poking his head inside Slightly delayed, Chicco groans, “Edo, go the fuck away.”

“You’re pleasant this morning,” Edo quips as he enters, stepping just inside the door so as not to let in too much light. Chicco might be annoying the fuck out of him, currently, but that doesn’t mean Edo’s gonna be a jerk about it. “We’re gonna go get coffee, do you want anything?”

“We?”

“Yeah.” He presses his lips together and hopes Chicco doesn’t say anything more.

Lucky for him, Chicco drops it, burrowing into his pillows. “Maybe a _cappuccino_. Ooh, or a _latte macchiato._”

“Maybe, or yes?”

“How long is your date going to take?”

And Edo thought Chicco wouldn’t say shit. He bites the inside of his cheek and glares even though Chicco’s head is buried in his pillow. “It’s not a date.”

“Whatever you say, man.” Chicco rolls over. “If it’s gonna take a while, don’t bother. And tell Ele I say good morning and thanks for the coffee.”

“I’m paying for it.”

“Yeah, but she’s probably why you guys are going to get _good_ coffee and not leaving me with whatever shit you’ll make.” Chicco sighs. “At least Fede’s not here.”

Edo chuckles a little and pulls the door shut behind him as he leaves. His bedroom door is still closed, so he knocks. “Ele.”

After a second in which he can hear rustling from inside the room, the door opens and launches Edo back into last night. Ele stands there, her own jeans back on, but another one of his shirts tucked into them, clean this time. Her hair’s pulled hair back and she adjusts the sleeves as she steps out of the room, her shirt from last night folded in her fist. She glances at him, a slight blush coloring her cheeks, and asks, “Is it okay if I borrow this? I just hate wearing dirty clothes. I’ll wash it, I promise.”

“No, no, of course,” he says, spluttering a little and trying to lower his heart rate.

“Okay.” For a moment, she just looks at him, a soft smile growing on her face, and that doesn’t help his heart rate in the slightest. “Be quick, alright?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he says and she heads toward the living room.

**—**

**10:58 **  
**CAFE, DOWNTOWN MILAN**

“Can you drop me off at campus in a little bit?” Ele asks, looking over at him from the other side of the table. The day is unusually warm for November and they’re sat outside, jackets tucked around themselves. Ele took his jacket again as they left his apartment and the combination of her wearing it along with his shirt is doing serious things to his brain. “I took a TA shift in the lab for a friend of mine.”

“Sure.” He squints a little as the sun breaks in a vibrant halo around her head. “When?”

“Ah, we should probably leave in twenty?” She takes a sip of her coffee and leans forward, grabbing the paper bag with his _cornetto_ inside and pulling it across the table. “The lab’s at twelve and I don’t really know how long it’ll take to get there from here.”

“Mm, okay.” Her phone buzzes against the table top and she frowns, absentmindedly putting a piece of his _cornetto_ in her mouth, before flipping it over to check her notifications. He watches her as she scrolls and types, stealing back his breakfast, and revels a little in the fact that she’s here with him.

It’s a Sunday morning and he’s having breakfast with Eleonora Sava. He must’ve done something really good in a past life to get to this point.

Her frown deepens the longer she stares at her phone, so Edo nudges her foot under the table with his own. After a moment of hesitation, she looks over and he asks, “What’s up?”

“Nothing, nothing.” He raises his eyebrows as she bites her lip and watches her until she relents. “No, it’s just, I’m applying for that Masters program but the lab thinks I’m sticking around for a year after I’ve graduated ‘cause I haven’t told them about Germany yet, and the program managers are reaching out to me for confirmations and shit and the lab coordinator is asking about hours for the summer and—I’m just a little stressed about it all.”

“It’s gonna be alright,” he says and slides his foot up and down against hers. He would’ve taken her hand or something dumb like that, but already his mind is screaming danger and telling him to backtrack. Just because Ele decided to stay _one night_ at his apartment does not make him her boyfriend. They haven’t even kissed, for fuck’s sake! “The program and the lab are both incredibly lucky to have someone as smart as you be on their team. And if the lab can’t be happy for you that you’re moving on to something amazing for your career, then they’re blind.”

Her eyes, the brightest green, are locked on his and, while her breath hitches, his mouth turns dry as he studies her face. What is she thinking, right now? He presses his lips together and does lean forward, loose fist edging across the table. “Hey, don’t worry, okay?”

It takes a moment for her to nod, but she does so, and the corners of his mouth turn up. “No matter what, you’re gonna be great.”

She seriously makes his mind go haywire. He’s never been this upfront with a girl before, not when he was trying to be casual or when he was trying to be serious, but she’s too incredible to not say it all day, every day. And he wants her to know that he thinks she’s fantastic and capable and amazing.

And, maybe, that he’s a little in love with her.

Pressing her lips together, fighting her own smile, she reaches out and takes his hand, squeezing it once. “Okay.”

“Okay.” He nods and lets his heart pound out of his chest before squeezing her hand back. “Let’s go?”

They get up from the table, paper bag with his _cornetto _clutched firmly in the hand she snakes around his waist as he comes around to her side, and he curls his arm around her shoulders as they walk to his car.

—

**11:36 **  
**UNIVERSITY OF MILAN**

Chicco calls him as he makes sure Ele gets into the Life Sciences building and Edo’s distracted enough by the little wave she gives him before going inside that he almost misses the call. “Hey.”

“_Are you bringing me coffee or what?_”

“I thought you said to leave it if we were taking too long.” Edo shifts into gear and pulls away from the curb.

“_I changed my mind."_

“Well, we’ve left the cafe, so I don’t know if that’s an option anymore.” The light he pulls up to is red and his phone buzzes in time with his stop. Putting Chicco on speakerphone, he checks his messages. 

> _11:39, message from _**Ele**   
Thanks again for letting me crash last night   
And for buying me breakfast  
And taking me to campus   
☺️💜 

“_Going back to the cafe is an option_,” Chicco says, but Edo’s distracted once again. That damn purple heart— “_Edo, hell-o_?”

The car behind him honks and he clatters his phone into a cupholder and presses his foot into the gas. “Sorry, Ele just texted me—”

“_And you fucking pissed off all the drivers around you._” Chicco cackles and Edo tries not to let his face warm too much even though there’s no one else in the fucking car with him. “_Typical._”

Deflection once more: “What the hell are you on, man?”

“_No, not a question of what _I’m_ on, it’s what Ele’s got _you_ hooked on._” Edo presses his lips together as Chicco continues. “_I mean, you guys aren’t even together and you’d drop everything and everyone just to help her out._”

“Chicco—”

“_No, I have _grievances_ about this!_” He doesn’t sound annoyed, more dramatic than anything, so Edo settles in to listen to Chicco rant until he reaches the apartment again.

He’s too high to be brought down, anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ily all


	5. i think i finally hit the ground (head full of noise and sounds)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eva Brighi to Fede Canegallo: edo says he’s disowning you  
Eva Brighi: what toppings do you like on ur pizza 
> 
> — 
> 
> Eleonora Sava to Giovanni Garau: did i leave my shit at yours  
Eleonora Sava: please say yes  
Giovanni Garau: yeah its here  
Giovanni Garau: [pic]  
Eleonora Sava: blessings from above  
Eleonora Sava: are you joining us or no?  
Eleonora Sava: Eva says to send you the tongue emoji but I’m not feeling nasty today  
Eleonora Sava: she’d send you one herself but she’s got pizza grease on her fingers and doesn’t want to get her phone dirty  
Giovanni Garau: tell her that’s sexy of her 
> 
> — 
> 
> Edoardo Incanti to Eleonora Sava: it’s rude to text at the table  
Eleonora Sava: desperate times, mr. hypocrite  
Edoardo Incanti: who’s getting ur table manners so wonky  
Eleonora Sava: wouldn’t you like to know

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no definite time stamp but somewhere around the beginning of November ish 
> 
> chapter title comes from "how's your mind" by Knox Hamilton an absolute bop 
> 
> for my absolute fav Paige ([sleepybanshee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepyBanshee/pseuds/SleepyBanshee) and [air-bison-yip-yip](https://air-bison-yip-yip.tumblr.com)) ily girl

_Martino Rametta_ to _entirely dead inside_: head count please

_Eva Brighi_: sadly, awake

_Sana Allagui_: silvia and fede are still sleeping

_Luchino_: Marti Elia says that if you don’t stop turning the lights on and off he’s going to fucking kill you

_Luchino_: and gio and Sofia are missing

_Eva Brighi_: Sofia?

_Sana Allagui_: nice

_Martino Rametta:_ nico’s with me

_Martino Rametta_: eyes on ele?

_Eva Brighi_: bathroom

_Sana Allagui_: someone go tell her not to puke too hard cause I had to clean up last time and I don’t wanna do that again

_Eva Brighi_: she says fuck you

_Sana Allagui_: delightful

—

_Edoardo Incanti_ to _Eleonora Sava_: heard you had quite the night

_Eleonora Sava_: remind me to never do college again

_Edoardo Incanti_: i thought you liked all the higher education shit

_Edoardo Incanti_: ya know

_Edoardo Incanti_: learning things so you can make ur mark on the world

_Edoardo Incanti_: all that sentimental shit

_Eleonora Sava_: fuck sentiment

_Eleonora Sava_: can you call the police on a university? the school’s trying to kill me

—

_Giovanni Garau_ to _Eva Brighi_: what do you want for breakfast

_Eva Brighi_: you’re an angel

_Eva Brighi_: but it’s almost noon just come back we’re getting lunch

—

_Luchino_ to _fede text when u wake up we went to get pizza_: turns out I was wrong gio and Sofia weren’t missing

_Luchino_: just gio

_Luchino_: does anyone actually remember Sofia leaving the party last night?

_Luchino_: anyways gio’s back

_Luchino_: chicco and edo say they’ll be here in five

_Eva Brighi_: shit we’ve left

_Luchino_: you did?

_Elia Santini_: do you pay attention to anything?

_Elia Santini_: anything at all

_Elia Santini_: sofia didn’t even come last night ffs

_Elia Santini_: they fucking changed the name of the chat dude

—

_Sana Allagui_ to _Eleonora Sava_: when ur done we’re downstairs

_Sana Allagui_: please hurry up some of us are starving

_Eleonora Sava_: why did you let me drink so much ur supposed to stop this stuff

_Sana Allagui_: ur very persuasive when you want to be

_Sana Allagui_: are you hurrying or are you just ignoring me now

_Sana Allagui_: I’m sending edo to get you

—

_Sana Allagui_ to _Edoardo Incanti_: how long does it take to wrangle your girlfriend

_Edoardo Incanti_: not my girlfriend

_Edoardo Incanti_: and don’t fucking say stuff like that you’ll give me ideas

_Sana Allagui_: so she’s as slow at getting with you as she is at getting dressed?

_Edoardo Incanti_: fuck off

_Sana Allagui_: I’m hungry, charms

—

_Edoardo Incanti_ to _Fede Canegallo_: when are you taking ur test

_Fede Canegallo_: why

_Fede Canegallo_: need me out of the apartment or smth?

_Fede Canegallo_: miss sava coming over?

_Edoardo Incanti:_ dick

_Edoardo Incanti_: i guess you aren’t coming to pizza then

_Fede Canegallo_: you don’t even care

_Fede Canegallo_: you can just take ele now

_Edoardo Incanti_: there’s nine other people with us

_Fede Canegallo_: you’d still get down then n there if you were given the chance

—

_Eva Brighi_ to _Fede Canegallo_: edo says he’s disowning you

_Eva Brighi_: what toppings do you like on ur pizza

—

_Eleonora Sava _to _Giovanni Garau_: did i leave my shit at yours

_Eleonora Sava_: please say yes

_Giovanni Garau_: yeah its here

_Giovanni Garau_: [pic]

_Eleonora Sava_: blessings from above

_Eleonora Sava_: are you joining us or no?

_Eleonora Sava_: Eva says to send you the tongue emoji but I’m not feeling nasty today

_Eleonora Sava_: she’d send you one herself but she’s got pizza grease on her fingers and doesn’t want to get her phone dirty

_Giovanni Garau_: tell her that’s sexy of her

—

_Edoardo Incanti_ to _Eleonora Sava_: it’s rude to text at the table

_Eleonora Sava_: desperate times, mr. hypocrite

_Edoardo Incanti_: who’s getting ur table manners so wonky

_Eleonora Sava_: wouldn’t you like to know

_Edoardo Incanti_: i would, yes

_Eleonora Sava_: ur no fun

_Eleonora Sava_: just gio, I left my stuff at his this morning

_Eleonora Sava_: and I’m worried that if I go back to get it I’ll be roped into another midterms drinking game like last night

_Eleonora Sava_: he’s not exactly being the most helpful right now

_Edoardo Incanti_: want me to get them for you?

_Eleonora Sava_: my knight in shining armor

_Eleonora Sava_: don’t you have your own midterms to studying for? I don’t want to take time away from that

_Edoardo Incanti_: its nbd

_Edoardo Incanti_: how bout this

_Edoardo Incanti_: I’ll get ur books and you come study at mine and make sure I actually get shit done instead of playing fifa all night

_Eleonora Sava_: deal

_Eleonora Sava_: wait if I rat you out for playing video games instead of joining us last night can we still do that or no

—

_Eva Brighi_ to *_plays Baby K even harder*_: @chicco @edo @fede ur all the WORST

_Eva Brighi_: fifa instead of drinks?

_Eva Brighi_: I’m appalled I really am

_Edoardo Incanti_: who knew appalled was even in ur vocabulary

_Edoardo Incanti_: and why are you texting about this we’re all here

_Eva Brighi_: fede isn’t and I want to express my anger at all 3 of you at the same time

_Chicco Rodi_: when fifa calls it calls

_Federico Canegallo_: doesn’t make it sound better chicco

_Federico Canegallo_: nd some of us like having working brains to get through midterms with

_Eva Brighi_: who are you and what have you done with fede

_Federico Canegallo_: fuck off Eva

_Edoardo Incanti_: its true high school fede would be ashamed

_Elia Santini_: last week fede would be ashamed

_Elia Santini_: I’m ashamed

—

_Eleonora Sava_ to _Edoardo Incanti_: eva’s reading my texts over my shoulder I’m sorry

_Eleonora Sava_: please let me study at urs they haven’t killed you yet

_Eleonora Sava_: I will spam you with pleases until you say yes

_Edoardo Incanti_: are you done eating

_Edoardo Incanti_: lets just go now

—

_Sana Allagui_ to _we’ve reached 40 days and 40 nights in relationships wilderness ladies and germs_: barrage of obnoxious texts?

_Silvia Mirabella_: they’re leaving to go study

_Silvia Mirabella_: both of them are too straight laced to actually think of doing otherwise

_Silvia Mirabella_: leave ‘em be

_Sana Allagui_: they left pizza early

_Sana Allagui_: and now we only have one car to get back

_Sana Allagui_: chicco’s not going to let me DJ so what’s even the point anymore

_Sana Allagui_: it’s what they deserve

_Chicco Rodi_: when did I say that

_Giovanni Garau_: i’m coming n I’m bringing my car don’t get ur panties in a twist

_Sana Allagui_: stop thinking about my panties gio

_Giovanni Garau_: ffs

_Elia Santini_: Sana i’m behind you

_Sana Allagui_: many thanks

_Federico Canegallo_: I’ve filled my obnoxious quota earlier I’m too tired to do anything else

_Martino Rametta_ renamed the group _what happened to having a working brain fede?_

_Eva Brighi_: Marti you shit

_Eva Brighi_ renamed the group _we’ve made it to 40 days and 40 nights in relationship wilderness ladies and germs_

_Eva Brighi_: literally the only established rule of this chat is that we only change the name to keep track of the days

_Martino Rametta_: this is exhausting

—

_Chicco Rodi_ to _Rocco Martucci_: do you have the chat muted

_Rocco Martucci_: sorry who is this?

—

_Eleonora Sava_ to _Eva Brighi_: Eva

_Eleonora Sava_: Eva I’m struggling

_Eva Brighi_: you left pizza early to go study with edo I am not speaking to you

_Eleonora Sava_: evaaaaaa

—

_Eva Brighi_ removed _Eleonora Sava_ from _Le MAT&T_

_Eva Brighi_: ele WILL try to thirst text you today do not answer her

_Eva Brighi_ added _Eleonora Sava_ to _Le MAT&T_

_Eleonora Sava_: sorry what the fuck was that for

_Silvia Mirabella_: no you don’t get to protest you’ve abandoned us

_Silvia Mirabella_: go study miss sava I’m disappointed in you, frankly

—

_Eleonora Sava _to _Federica Caciotti_: are you guys at gio’s

_Eleonora Sava_: Fede?

—

_Federico Canegallo_ to _Giovanni Garau_: how’s it going over there

_Giovanni Garau_: we don’t have dumb sticks up our asses and aren’t studying so it’s going well

_Federico Canegallo_: Eva if I wanted to talk to you I would’ve texted you

_Federico Canegallo_: give gio the phone

—

_Eva Brighi_ to _Federico Canegallo_: fuck you

—

_Eleonora Sava _to _Sana Allagui_: are you guys at gio’s

_Sana Allagui_: ERROR 404: The person you are trying to reach is not available. Check your connection and try again later.

—

_Sana Allagui _to _Le MAT&T_: [screenshot]

_Sana Allagui_: and here we have the rare procrastinating ele sava in her natural habitat

_Eva Brighi_: what a beautiful creature

_Federica Caciotti_: truly moving to see such majesty in nature

_Silvia Mirabella_: i can’t believe you’ve captured her on record

_Eleonora Sava_: I know you’re all sitting in the same room laughing at each other

_Eleonora Sava_: I’m never speaking to you again

—

_Federico Canegallo _to _Edoardo Incanti_: so are you guys still studying

_Federico Canegallo_: or are you fucking now

_Federico Canegallo_: because if you’re fucking I’m not gonna come home

_Edoardo Incanti_: 1. you’re a piece of shit

_Edoardi Incanti_: 2. did you text me thinking that I would respond if we were fucking?

_Federico Canegallo_: I mean its been a couple hours since I left so I was just making sure it was cool to come back

_Federico Canegallo_: typically people don’t fuck for entire afternoons on end so

_Edoardo Incanti_: please stop saying we’re fucking

_Federico Canegallo_: so you’re not?

_Edoardo Incanti_: i’m not going to answer that

_Edoardo Incanti_: go to gio’s tho she’s moved past procrastinating and gets annoyed if you interrupt her

—

_Martino Rametta _to _Eleonora Sava_: nico is wondering if we can use your pasta

_Eleonora Sava_: will you be following a recipe

_Martino Rametta_: i’m not gonna lie to you that was an ask permission after the fact kind of thing

_Martino Rametta_: it is edible tho if you want to have some when you get home

_Martino Rametta_: when will that be?

—

_Eleonora Sava_ to _Edoardo Incanti_: what are you doing for dinner

_Edoardo Incanti_: i think talking in person about this isn’t violating the rules

_Eleonora Sava_: it is

_Eleonora Sava_: I can text and study at the same time and therefore I’m still studying and therefore we have to stay in separate rooms

_Edoardo Incanti_: you can be really obnoxious sometimes

_Eleonora Sava_: it’s a talent

_Eleonora Sava_: welcome to studying with me

_Edoardo Incanti_: ok you’re getting crabby

_Eleonora Sava_: rude

_Edoardo Incanti_: we’re officially done studying for the moment

_Eleonora Sava_: ok official means two party consent

_Eleonora Sava_: I did not consent to stop studying

_Edoardo Incanti_: acknowledged and overruled

_Edoardo Incanti_: i’m coming to you don’t flip ur shit

—

_Chicco Rodi_ to _someone get milk I haven’t been able to eat cereal in four days and i’m dying_: [pic]

_Chicco Rodi_: Spotted! Edoardo Incanti out getting saucy with Eleonora Sava when they both said they’d be studying. Maybe they can use their combined genius to turn their ‘break’ into a ‘date.’ xoxo Gossip Girl

_Edoardo Incanti_: fuck off man

_Federico Canegallo_: edo all you have to do to make this stop

_Federico Canegallo_: is stop being a fucking coward and tell her how you feel

—

_Chicco Rodi_ to _Eva Brighi_: edo and ele are at that greek stand by the conservatory

_Eva Brighi_: how dare they get gyros without me

_Eva Brighi_: what are you doing there

_Chicco Rodi_: not getting gyros bc now I have to spy on them

_Eva Brighi_: unfortunate

_Chicco Rodi_: the things I do for them

_Eva Brighi_: what, exactly, are you doing for them

_Chicco Rodi_: ur getting too hung up on the details

—

_Elia Santini_ to _*plays Baby K even harder*_: drinks tonight?

_Martino Rametta_: some of us value our livers

_Eleonora Sava_: and our grades

_Eva Brighi_: if you value ur grades so much

_Eleonora Sava_: don’t say it

_Eva Brighi_: why aren’t you studying rn?

_Eva Brighi_: mm?

_Elia Santini_: again, drinks tonight?

_Elia Santini_: bueller? bueller?

_Luchino_: I’m in

_Chicco Rodi_: @elia we’re gonna try to play that one game from New Girl tonight

_Giovanni Garau_: i fucking love new girl

_Federica Caciotti_: doesn’t that revolve around American politicians

_Chicco Rodi_: historical figures, please

_Chicco Rodi_: and yes

_Federica Caciotti_: interesting

_Sana Allagui_: I’m coming just to watch you guys be confused

_Edoardo Incanti_: when is this starting

_Chicco Rodi_: may or may not be four drinks in

_Edoardo Incanti_: is2g

—

_Eleonora Sava_ to _Giovanni Garau_: is anyone at urs rn? I need a quiet place to study

_Giovanni Garau_: no

_Giovanni Garau_: why don’t you go home?

_Eleonora Sava_: Eva will yell at me

_Eleonora Sava_: and edo forgot one of my books there earlier when he picked them up I’m sorry

_Giovanni Garau_: ok i’m leaving right now

_Giovanni Garau_: door’s unlocked but please be quick our neighbor will steal everything we own

_Eleonora Sava_: eva’s right you are an angel

—

_Federico Canegallo_ to _Edoardo Incanti_: are you coming home or nah

_Edoardo Incanti_: went to gio’s to study

_Edoardo Incanti_: back later

_Federico Canegallo_: do you even need to study this much for the one test you still have

_Federico Canegallo_: I don’t understand you

—

_Edoardo Incanti_ to _Eva Brighi_: ele is exhausted please don’t yell at her when she gets upstairs

_Eva Brighi_: …

_Eva Brighi_: fine

_Eva Brighi_: but only cuz you said please

—

_Eva Brighi_ renamed the group _41 days and 41 nights in relationship wilderness ladies and germs_

—

_Eva Brighi_ to _Eleonora Sava_: Marti wants to know if you want anything for breakfast he and Nico are going out

_Eva Brighi_: he also called me lazy for not getting off the couch to ask you in person

_Eva Brighi_: will you yell at him for that pls

—

_Silvia Mirabella _to _*plays Baby K even harder*_: drinks here tonight for those of us who are feeling reckless or actually are done with midterms

_Silvia Mirabella_: starting at 21 but we’re getting Thai at 19 if anyone wants to join

_Chicco Rodi_: can u be both?

_Silvia Mirabella_: yea that’s allowed

_Chicco Rodi_: sick

_Elia Santini_: if we want Thai but don’t feel like actually going to the Thai place

_Silvia Mirabella_: no

—

_Silvia Mirabella_ sent a link to _silvietta.sil, profile on PayPal_ to _Le MAT&T_: fund drinks for tonight pls and thanks

_Federica Caciotti_ renamed the group _Le Mom’s not buying the booze anymore_

_Silvia Mirabella_: funny

_Federica Caciotti_ sent a link to _federicarica, profile on PayPal_: fund my career launch into comedy pls and thanks

—

_Federico Canegallo_ to _do NOT speak to me about the scooter_: fifa tourney @ 15?

_Elia Santini_: ye

_Giovanni Garau_: taking my last midterm but I can be there at like 16:30

_Federico Canegallo_: lame

_Chicco Rodi_: will I actually get to play today sir

_Luchino_: sounds good

_Rocco Martucci_: do any of you actually go to class

_Elia Santini_: @chicco @rocco no

_Chicco Rodi_: fuck you @elia

_Martino Rametta_: same with gio but Nico says he’ll be there at 15

_Martino Rametta_: he’s wondering if you’ll have snacks or no

_Federico Canegallo_: tell the little fucker he can die before eating all of my good pretzels again

_Martino Rametta_: he says bite me

_Federico Canegallo_: @edo hello????

_Federico Canegallo_: update edo is still sleeping but told me to tell you all he’s going to kick your asses

_Elia Santini_: fat fucking chance, charms

—

_Eva Brighi _to _Eleonora Sava_: making coffee would you like some

—

_Edoardo Incanti _to _Eleonora Sava_: hi please tell me you actually went to bed last night instead of studying more

_Eleonora Sava_: I did

_Edoardo Incanti_: ok good

_Edoardo Incanti_: when are you taking it

_Eleonora Sava_: tomorrow

_Edoardo Incanti_: are you feeling better about it than you were yesterday?

_Eleonora Sava_: yes

_Eleonora Sava_: thank you

_Edoardo Incanti_: of course

_Edoardo Incanti_: i’d offer to let you come study here again but fede and chicco want to play fifa

_Edoardo Incanti_: lucky fuckers are already done with their midterms

_Edoardo Incanti_: but if you need someone to study with again, I’ll take on the task

_Eleonora Sava_: how kind of you

_Eleonora Sava_: I’m ok tho

_Edoardo Incanti_: if you’re sure

—

_Eva Brighi_ to _Eleonora Sava_: are you down for Thai or no?

_Eva Brighi_: because now is the time to say something if ur not

_Eva Brighi_: silvia is Determined to get spring rolls

_Eva Brighi_: I think only you could stop her

_Eva Brighi_: sana tried suggesting that Salvadorian place but sil shut her down hard

_Eva Brighi_: come save us from tyranny pls

—

_Chicco Rodi _to _*plays Baby K even harder*_: just wanted to publicly make it known that I kicked Fede and Elia’s asses at fifa

_Sana Allagui_: ladies we’ve been demoted to peanut gallery

_Sana Allagui_: this is a federal offense

_Eva Brighi_: @chicco I’ll be impressed when you can beat ele at mario kart

_Federica Caciotti_: same

_Martino Rametta_: points were made

_Silvia Mirabella_: guys he might die lets not make him do that

_Sana Allagui_: can we still take them to court

_Federica Caciotti_: yes of course

_Eva Brighi_: get ur fucking lawyer ready boys

_Luchino_: wait court for what

_Giovanni Garau_: grabbing the game cube when I go home this weekend

_Giovanni Garau_: mario kart tourney Sunday night

_Federico Canegallo_: um pay attention to this tourney pls and thanks

_Chicco Rodi_: I’ve been challenged tho

_Chicco Rodi_: and they’re suing us

_Federico Canegallo_: I will smother you in ur sleep chicco PAY ATTENTION

—

_Edoardo Incanti_ to _Eleonora Sava_: contrary to what the gc says it was mostly me who beat fede and Elia

_Eleonora Sava_: color me even more impressed than I already said I was

_Edoardo Incanti_: you didn’t say anything

_Eleonora Sava_: exactly

_Edoardo Incanti_: no one asked you to be sarcastic about it

_Edoardo Incanti_: now what’s this about mario kart

_Eleonora Sava_: don’t even try I will kick ur ass

_Edoardo Incanti_: I’ll have you know I’ve won every single Incanti cousins mario kart tourney since we started doing them when I was like nine

_Eleonora Sava_: its not that hard to beat Eva she’s shit

_Edoardo Incanti_: we have other cousins ya know

_Eleonora Sava_: did mario kart even exist when u were nine

_Edoardo Incanti_: ya p sure

_Eleonora Sava_: hm

_Eleonora Sava_: sounds dubious

_Eleonora Sava_: old

_Edoardo Incanti_: hey

—

_Eva Brighi_ to _Le Mom’s not buying the booze anymore_: yeah I think Thai is fine

_Sana Allagui_: its not

_Eva Brighi_: what’s not fine is hiding in ur room and not answering ur texts all day

_Federica Caciotti_: ok so we’ve gotten through procrastination ele and annoyed ele and now we’re on to hermit ele

_Federica Caciotti_: we’ve almost completed the cycle

_Silvia Mirabella_: is she alive can you tell

_Silvia Mirabella_: sana shut up about the food for a sec

_Sana Allagui_: ok easy for u when ur the one that’s winning

_Eva Brighi_: yeah I’ve heard her go to the bathroom once or twice but she hasn’t come out besides that

_Eva Brighi_: I’ve texted her several times and when I call she sends me to voicemail

_Sana Allagui_: have you like knocked on the door

_Eva Brighi_: I may be an idiot but I’m not stupid Sana

_Eva Brighi_: of course I have

_Eva Brighi_: ele if you’re reading this knock on ur wall twice

_Eva Brighi_: ok she did it. love you ele please come out and eat something

—

_Chicco Rodi_ to _*plays Baby K even harder*_: @ele so are you going to beat my ass in mario kart or not

_Chicco Rodi_: you didn’t say anything

_Chicco Rodi_: i need to kno how many blows my pride is gonna take this week

_Federico Canegallo_: ok you are preemptively anticipating ele beating you when gio’s beating you right now

_Federico Canegallo_: you’re not even playing anymore ffs

_Chicco Rodi_: some things you just have to accept fede

_Edoardo Incanti_: who the fuck says preemptively anticipate

_Eva Brighi_: don’t be jealous just bc some fede sounds fancier than you

_Edoardo Incanti_: is this bc I insulted ur vocabulary yesterday

—

_Sana Allagui_ to _Eleonora Sava_: not responding to hermit ele takes some strength

_Sana Allagui_: is everything ok?

—

_Edoardo Incanti_: appalled

_Edoardo Incanti_: dubious

_Edoardo Incanti_: preemptive

_Edoardo Incanti_: anticipation

_Eleonora Sava_: no I am not arguing with you about this

_Eleonora Sava_: I’m studying

_Eleonora Sava_: unlike some people

_Edoardo Incanti_: mm ok point taken

—

_Sana Allagui_ to _Le Mom’s not paying for the booze anymore_: ok Eva w/e you’ve done to piss ele off has extended to me

_Sana Allagui_: she’s not responding to my texts

_Eva Brighi_: well what did you say

_Eva Brighi_: also she’s not pissed off she’s Stressed

_Eva Brighi_: i’m Stressed

_Sana Allagui_: I asked if she was ok

_Sana Allagui_: n she didn’t say anything

_Silvia Mirabella_: ele knock twice on the wall again if ur stressed

_Silvia Mirabella_: eva did she do it

_Eva Brighi_: no

_Eva Brighi_: her phone’s going straight to voicemail now I think it’s off

_Silvia Mirabella_: damn

_Silvia Mirabella_: frontal assault into her room?

_Eva Brighi_: I have a better idea

—

_Eva Brighi_ to _Edoardo Incanti_: hey

—

_Eleonora Sava_ to _marti make sure nico cleans out the lint filter on the dryer or I will cut you_: someone please water the plants on the veranda

_Eleonora Sava_: I just realized that I didn’t get to them this morning and they’re sitting directly in the sun

_Martino Rametta_: i would totally do it but I am not home atm

_Eva Brighi_: I have a good idea for you

_Eva Brighi_: you could come out and do it yourself

_Eva Brighi_: ele?

—

_Martino Rametta_ to _Eva Brighi_: everything ok with ele?

_Eva Brighi_: you’ve been gone all day I forgot

_Eva Brighi_: she isn’t coming out of her room or answering her texts

_Martino Rametta_: oh so Test Ele

_Eva Brighi_: I think its worse than usual

—

_Martino Rametta_ to _Eleonora Sava_: hi i would request that you set aside your books and take ten deep breaths

_Martino Rametta_: nico seconds me

_Eleonora Sava_: :/

_Martino Rametta_: eva did water the plants on the veranda she sent me a pic

_Eleonora Sava_: :)

—

_Edoardo Incanti_ to _Eva Brighi_: sorry I was talking to nonna

_Edoardo Incanti_: she wants us to come over soon

_Eva Brighi_: like today soon?

_Edoardo Incanti_: no like in a few weeks

_Eva Brighi_: ok

_Eva Brighi_: wait aren’t you guys doing fifa right now

_Edoardo Incanti_: does that make me incapable of texting nonna

_Eva Brighi_: she doesn’t text

_Edoardo Incanti_: calling nonna then w/e

_Eva Brighi_: edoardo incanti did you actually speak to our grandmother or are you bsing me

_Edoardo Incanti_: i promise I did I’m just very tired atm

_Eva Brighi_: ok lover boy I’ll let it slide this time

_Eva Brighi_: text ele for me I haven’t heard or seen her all day and I’m getting worried

_Edoardo Incanti_: weird she’s been texting me

_Eva Brighi_: of fucking course

_Edoardo Incanti_: is everything ok?

_Eva Brighi_: she’s being a recluse

_Eva Brighi_: I’ve found that she gets like this around tests its p usual

_Eva Brighi_: but this feels off I’m worried

—

_Edoardo Incanti_: in order to properly be a recluse you have to turn your phone off you know

_Eleonora Sava_: I have no idea what ur talking about

_Edoardo Incanti_: Eva says she hasn’t heard from you all day

_Edoardo Incanti_: you haven’t been responding in the gc

_Edoardo Incanti_: but you’ve been texting me

_Edoardo Incanti_: don’t recluses avoid all contact w the outside world

_Eleonora Sava_: whoever said I was trying to be a recluse

_Edoardo Incanti_: is everything ok?

_Eleonora Sava_: yes

_Eleonora Sava_: why wouldn’t it be

_Edoardo Incanti_: i’m coming over

_Eleonora Sava_: you don’t need to

_Edoardo Incanti_: i am tho

_Eleonora Sava_: edo

_Eleonora Sava_: edo seriously you don’t have to

_Eleonora Sava_: edo pick up your damn phone

—

_Edoardo Incanti_ to _Eva Brighi_: are you home?

_Eva Brighi_: ya

_Edoardo Incanti_: come buzz me in

_Eva Brighi_: she’s not gonna let you in I’ve tried that

_Edoardo Incanti_: w/e just do it pls

—

_Federico Canegallo_: where did you go

_Edoardo Incanti_: ele’s

_Federico Canegallo_: ok

_Federico Canegallo_: not gonna finish the tourney?

_Edoardo Incanti_: we played for like two and a half hours I think that’s enough

_Federico Canegallo_: ok

_Federico Canegallo_: are you gonna come to drinks

_Edoardo Incanti_: depends

_Federico Canegallo_: ok

_Federico Canegallo_: tell her to feel better

—

_Eva Brighi_ to _Le Mom’s not buying the booze anymore_: ok better idea is here now

_Sana Allagui_: don’t tell me you got edo to come over

_Silvia Mirabella_: eva now is not the time to try to set them up

_Sana Allagui_: it’s brilliant

_Eva Brighi_: ok contrary to popular (silvia’s) belief chicco and I are NOT crazy for trying to set them up

_Eva Brighi_: n this isn’t part of that

_Eva Brighi_: they are friends and friends are allowed to do shit like care about each other

_Federica Caciotti_: and have romantic feelings for one another

_Eva Brighi_: not! the! point!

—

_Silvia Mirabella_ to _*plays Baby K even harder*_: numbers for Thai?

_Luchino_: me

_Elia Santini_: ok the tourney’s almost done

_Elia Santini_: you’re sure you won’t bring any to us

_Silvia Mirabella_: we are going back to mine after this why would we bring it all the way to fede’s

_Chicco Rodi_: me for Thai

_Giovanni Garau_: same

_Martino Rametta_: me n nico too

_Elia Santini_: traitors

_Martino Rametta_: we literally are already done with the tourney you’re just a sore loser and want to play until you win a game

_Elia Santini_: ur exposing me

_Elia Santini_: i will eat ur firstborn

_Silvia Mirabella_: edo? fede?

_Federico Canegallo_: nah I am gonna pity play Elia until he wins

_Elia Santini_: fuck you

—

_Edoardo Incanti_ to _Silvia Mirabella_: any chance you could make a stop here after Thai

_Silvia Mirabella_: no i literally just told Elia I’m not going to yours

_Edoardo Incanti_: at ele’s

_Silvia Mirabella_: oh

_Silvia Mirabella_: yeah of course

_Silvia Mirabella_: what do you guys want

_Edoardo Incanti_: the drunken noodles and that one yellow curry

_Silvia Mirabella_: will do

_Silvia Mirabella_: is ele ok?

_Edoardo Incanti_: yeah she’s alright

_Silvia Mirabella_: tell her I’m glad she’s ok

—

_Eva Brighi_ to _Edoardo Incanti_: how’s ele

_Edoardo Incanti_: hungry

_Eva Brighi_: we’ll stop by soon

_Eva Brighi_: almost done I promise

_Eva Brighi_: besides that?

_Edoardo Incanti_: she yelled at me for a bit for coming over n got mad when I took away her textbook

_Edoardo Incanti_: but then she calmed down

_Edoardo Incanti_: currently on the porch

_Edoardo Incanti_: she’s v concerned about the plants

_Edoardo Incanti_: says you did a shit job of watering them

_Eva Brighi_: that is what she wants to say rn

_Eva Brighi_: so picky

_Eva Brighi_: is she feeling better?

_Edoardo Incanti_: i think so

_Edoardo Incanti_: really remains to be see tho

_Edoardo Incanti_: she’s very stressed

_Eva Brighi_: ok

_Eva Brighi_: keep me updated

—

_Silvia Mirabella_ to _Edoardo Incanti_: i come bearing food

_Silvia Mirabella_: buzz me in pls

—

_Federico Canegallo_ to _*plays Baby K even harder*_: we’ll be over soon

_Eva Brighi_: cool we started w/o you

—

_Eva Brighi_ to _Le Mom’s not paying for the booze anymore_: mission check on ele post drinks is a go

_Eva Brighi_: I might be too drunk for this but w/e

_Eva Brighi_: all the lights are off

_Eva Brighi_: it’s quiet

_Eva Brighi_: checking her room

_Eva Brighi_: oh!

_Eva Brighi_: they are asleep

_Sana Allagui_: they

_Silvia Mirabella_: they?

_Eva Brighi_: yes edo is here still

_Sana Allagui_: nice

_Federica Caciotti_: how does ele look

_Eva Brighi_: relaxed

_Sana Allagui_: are they snuggling

_Eva Brighi_: yes

_Eva Brighi_: its v cute

—

_Eva Brighi_ renamed the group _ok they were snuggling last night are we still in the relationship wilderness, who knows? day 1 _

_Chicco Rodi_: sorry they were what last night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ily all


	6. matter over mind (if we being honest)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He’s still holding the door open, people still filing through, but his attention is drawn from their non-communicative staring contest as Lelia enters and says something to him. She’s at the end of the flow of students so Edoardo walks into the classroom with her, a few slow, lanky steps before they stop at the row Lelia’s friends are sitting in. 
> 
> Eleonora tries not to think of their date last week, or how their date was the only thing she could focus on while on her own date—poor, poor Oliviero—whether or not Edoardo had a good time, whether or not he kissed Lelia, whether or not he decided to take her home, whether or not Eleonora seriously wished to be the one in Lelia’s position, whether or not his mouth is as smooth as his words are—
> 
> She’s fucking doing it again. 
> 
> In an attempt to pull her attention from Edoardo and Lelia, still chatting, she turns to Dora in the row behind her. “Hey—”
> 
> “Do you think that’s a hickey on Edo’s neck or that he and Chicco did something really stupid this weekend?” Dora asks, eyes squinting as she studies Edoardo across the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one doesn't have a set date in the canon yet but ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> prompt from this little "list of words for a ship" thing from tumblr, specifically, the word "basoxeria" meaning: an overwhelming desire to kiss
> 
> chapter title from "cold war" by cautious clay

**17:46**  
**LECTURE HALL, HUMANITIES BUILDING, UNIVERSITY OF MILAN**

Eleonora makes it to the lecture hall, finds their usual row, exchanges pleasantries with Dora and Jacopo, and pulls out her conjugation charts to review before class starts all before Edoardo even responds to her text.

> _17:47, message from _**Edoardo**   
Coming in rn  
Did you save me a seat?
> 
> _17:47, message to _**Edoardo**   
Yeah   
Hurry tho  
Yours is a coveted spot 
> 
> _17:47, message from _**Edoardo**   
Only bc it’s next to you   
😜😉
> 
> _17:48, message to _**Edoardo**   
🙃 

She turns back to her conjugation charts, trying not to let that little shit emoji with its stuck out tongue plant thoughts in her brain, but not even thirty seconds later the doors to the lecture halls open and Edoardo enters. At the sight of the mess of curls atop his head, the dark scruff against his jaw, the long column of his neck and how a muscle or several flexes in his forearm as he holds the door open for some of their classmates, Eleonora finds herself swallowing several times against something thick in her throat. He looks into the lecture hall, eyes darting off the various groups of people before lighting upon her. He presses his lips together when he spots her, the corners of his mouth twitching as he tries not to grin and his eyes opening just a fraction more, as if he wants to catch as much of her as possible, and her heart thuds hard in her chest.

Even after her clarifying conversation with Eva, Eleonora didn’t expect her reaction to him to be this strong, but it might literally kill her that they’re in a public setting right now. Her hands are itching to rub his scruff under her palms, pull his face up close to hers and guide his hands to her waist, her ribs, maybe even a little higher, and kiss him senseless.

Not exactly something you can do in the middle of the lecture hall and still have your peers respect you as a normal fucking person. Want is a bitch, after all.

He’s still holding the door open, people still filing through, but his attention is drawn from their non-communicative staring contest as Lelia enters and says something to him. She’s at the end of the flow of students so Edoardo walks into the classroom with her, a few slow, lanky steps before they stop at the row Lelia’s friends are sitting in.

Eleonora tries not to think of their date last week, or how their date was the only thing she could focus on while on her own date—poor, poor Oliviero—whether or not Edoardo had a good time, whether or not he kissed Lelia, whether or not he decided to take her home, whether or not Eleonora seriously wished to be the one in Lelia’s position, whether or not his mouth is as smooth as his words are—

She’s fucking doing it again.

In an attempt to pull her attention from Edoardo and Lelia, still chatting, she turns to Dora in the row behind her. “Hey—”

“Do you think that’s a hickey on Edo’s neck or that he and Chicco did something _really_ stupid this weekend?” Dora asks, eyes squinting as she studies Edoardo across the room.

Eleonora whips her head back around, examining Edoardo from head to toe—because her mind can’t stop fucking _looking_ at him, noting how the dark fabric of his jeans clings to his legs, how his cardigan is pulled up on his damn forearms, and how he’s got on his glasses that make her mind go haywire—the knowledge that she should be saying something, protesting _why_ this question is relevant, but all she can do is study his throat, how the muscles in it move as his head does, when he laughs, when he swallows, when he groans. It all but sends her into hysterics.

God, what the fuck is her mind on?

She spots what Dora’s talking about almost immediately, a dark red bruise near his ear that does look suspiciously hickey-like, but also vaguely like the marks she remembers covering Edoardo’s, Federico’s, Rocco’s, and Chicco’s backs after the night they decided to play smack-pong. The two possibilities of Dora’s question are both valid, but Eleonora’s mind drifts to one over the other.

Her brain going places it really shouldn’t, Eleonora studies the way Edoardo’s mouth moves as he speaks, the tiny, pink glimpses of his tongue, the edges of his teeth first just as he talks but then as he sinks them into his lip in concentration, and is overwhelmed with the urge to be the one biting his lips instead. She doesn’t really even need _that_ much, if she’s being fucking honest, just one damn good kiss that makes her skin tingle and her mind race and her blood boil that lasts until she thinks she’ll never know anything else ever again.

It’s a weird desire, considering that, until last week, she had a boyfriend of sorts who did kiss her when she asked. And kissed her well. But, Eleonora thinks as Edoardo gives Lelia a final smile and little nod goodbye, he was never able to kiss her until her knees and shoulders and neck ached. Edoardo has the reputation for it.

His eyes light on her again and this time when her blood races through her veins, she pushes her questions aside.

“I think it’s a hickey,” Jacopo says as Edoardo starts toward them. He scrubs at his mouth and Eleonora finds herself thinking of each and every word she remembers coming out of it, every tease, every mundane, boring fact, every compliment—there are so, _so_ many—and finds her heart beating even faster.

It’s not just the guarantee of skill that makes her want this—to kiss him, to feel his skin under her lips, to be the one leaving hickeys and lovebites and marks—it’s just a little bit more than that.

(If she stopped being a fucking coward, she might admit that it’s Edoardo himself. _Might_.)

“Hi,” he says, sliding into his seat next to her, and she tamps down the desire to launch herself at him. Still in the fucking lecture hall surrounded by other people, for fuck’s sake. Trying to remain in the realm of normalcy. She gives him a smile hello, rewarded with one that sends her blood pumping hot once again, and turns to her conjugation sheets to try to cool her body temp. Nothing like German verb conjugations to get one going, right?

“So,” Jacopo starts, but Dora finishes for him: “Did you get laid this weekend?”

As Edoardo chokes, she slides down in her seat, mind returning back to her inconvenient thought process. It’s going to be a long fucking lecture.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ily all


End file.
